Respect
by Kitt Chaos
Summary: Continuing the story Rebellion. Yugi now possesses Arcana's Dark Magician, the very card monster who helped him become the 'Master of the Dark Magician'. What challenges must be met to integrate this newcomer into Yugi's deck?
1. Puzzle Labyrinth

Yu-Gi-Oh! and all its characters, are the legal and intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi and any entities he has granted legal rights to. I claim no rights at all with my story. I greatly admire and feel gratitude to Mr. Takahashi for the amazing story and characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! 

I humbly beg the pardon of Yu-Gi-Oh! purists, as I am basing this story on the Americanized version of the Duel Monsters story as aired by the KidsWB. 

This story picks up where Rebellion (my first Yu-Gi-Oh! story posted here on fanfiction.net) left off.****

**Respect**

**Chapter One - Puzzle Labyrinth**

"And so, we meet," he heard a voice say. Strange, he couldn't see anything. Perhaps Yami, the magic card creating darkness on the field, had been played before he had been summoned. No matter. He would wait until his master told him what action to take. 

His master... 

The image of a harlequin-masked face crossed his mind's eye. He shuddered. 

"Give him a moment," a new voice suggested. This voice teased at his memory. It wasn't the voice of his master, but someone who...knew him, somehow. Strange! He wished he could remember. Memory, something about memory. He almost remembered speaking with someone about his memory... He shook his head. If only he could...remember... 

A hand touched his shoulder. Memory bloomed in him at that touch. He'd felt that before! A touch mutely offering comfort. Why had he needed comfort? 

Oh, yes! That duel, the one that had sent him to the Graveyard in the company of another Dark Magician. The one that had freed him from his former master, Arcana. The one that had made Yugi his new master. 

"Who is that?!" The first voice exclaimed in surprise. "Apparently this won't be as simple as I had envisioned... Vision, I suppose that is going to be necessary..." 

Light finally met his straining eyes. He was prone on the ground in what appeared to be an Egyptian tomb. Kneeling next to him, the one whose hand lightly touched his shoulder, was the Dark Magician who had traveled to the Graveyard with him in a blaze of mutual annihilation during the decisive duel between their masters. Yugi's Dark Magician. He pushed himself up on his hands so he could see more of the chamber. Also standing over him was... 

"Yugi!" he breathed. 

Purple eyes flicked over him, widening slightly as they took in the presence of the other Dark Magician. Those eyes smiled benevolently down on him. 

"No," he stooped to grasp his arm. Between them, Yugi's Dark Magician and...whoever this person was, helped him to his feet. 

"I am Yami, an ancient spirit who resides within Yugi now," he explained. 

"Where...are we? Where is the your opponent? What am I supposed to do?" he asked. 

Yami's mouth tightened that the proud Dark Magician had been so cowed by Arcana's intimidation. 

"I sought only to make certain you would not harm Yugi when he plays your card. He has been wanting to, but I was concerned. Arcana has gone completely mad, true, but I didn't know if perhaps you were a plant of Marik's placed to harm Yugi. I had to make certain," Yami explained. 

"I..." 

Yami held up one hand. "You don't have to say anything. I used the power of the Millennium Puzzle to bring you here. We are in...my mind, the labyrinth whose pathways even I don't know anymore. But here, I can tell that you are not what I feared. You are instead a Dark Magician who has been dreadfully abused. Well, no more!" 

"But you...how came you to witness this?" Yami turned to the other Dark Magician. 

"I knew you would test him, before permitting Yugi to play his card," Yugi's Dark Magician responded serenely. 

It took Yami a moment to assimilate all that the calm reply meant. "And how are you able to enter my mind?" Yami demanded. 

"It appears I am already here." Yugi's Dark Magician smiled very slightly. "But that is a puzzle for another time, is it not? We are here for a different purpose." He turned to regard the other Dark Magician again. 

"This will quickly become confusing, if we let it," Yami observed. He gazed up into the eyes of the Dark Magician who had been Arcana's. "Will you permit me to give you a name?" 

A name?! A name! Something of his very own, Arcana would never have thought to give him something as personal and precious as his own name! Part of Arcana's intimidation tactics had been to belittle his Dark Magicians. In a million years he would never have given them their own names! 

He nodded. 

Yami smiled at him again. Smiled! A warm, genuine smile...at him! Not like the sneer in a duel, aimed at the opponent, that his master Arcana had most often worn. Was everything the other Dark Magician told him actually true?! Could he trust that he would be...respected, here? 

"Until we learn more about you, would it be okay if I named you 'Akai'? It means 'Red'. And we could then refer to you as the Red Dark Magician in duels," Yami finally asked. 

A personal name and a distinctive title?! This could not be happening! He nodded tightly accepting the name. 'Akai'...he had a name! 

"I told you Yugi would respect you. It appears that Yami will too," Yugi's Dark Magician observed. 

"Ah, yes. You." Yami turned to regard the other Dark Magician again. "Until now, we never needed a distinctive name for you, as you were the only Dark Magician," Yami started. His gaze traveled down, taking note of this Dark Magician's appearance, then up into his Dark Magician's eyes. "Given the purple armor you wear, it makes sense to name you..." 

"I have a name," the purple Dark Magician interrupted softly. 

Yami stared at him. "You do?" Nonplused, he blinked twice. "May I know what it is?" 

"You will recognize it, my pharaoh." The purple Dark Magician bowed gracefully. "My name is Mahaad." 

Yami stood stunned. Memories of his high priest and trusted friend poured into his mind at the name. What had happened that he would hear that name again now, from a card monster, of all beings? "Mahaad?!" Yami reached down and lifted the Dark Magician to stand and face him again. He stared for a long, incredulous moment up into the Dark Magician's face and finally recognized his friend. "Why did you never tell me?!" 

Mahaad, the Dark Magician, crossed his arms in thought. It was his turn to become pensive. "I regret that had no way to inform you, my pharaoh. I must function as a card monster in Duels, so I could not break from the behavior expected of me enough to actually address you and let you know. This is the first time I had a chance to speak with you apart from the game." Mahaad gazed down at his own feet. "I...I could not helplessly watch as you and Yugi were injured, or worse, in the duel with Arcana. I had hoped after my sacrifice in that duel you would come to realize that I was still... But you have summoned me several times in duels since then. I presume you did not realize that I became...?" He opened his arms conveying the totality of his changed existence with the gesture. 

"No, my friend. And I should have. I'm so sorry!" 

"No harm has been done." He caught Yami's eyes very deliberately and smiled slightly. "Reading the most subtle clues was never your strong point." 

Yami blinked up at his friend. "You are...teasing me?" 

For an answer, the Dark Magician smiled a little deeper and nodded once. 

Yami grinned. "If you are teasing me, then I know all is well." 

Akai, the Red Dark Magician, spoke up. "Pardon me?" Yami and Mahaad turned to look at him. "I know that name, somehow...'Mahaad'...'Mahaad'... YOU! You are the first Dark Magician!" 

Mahaad nodded. 

"'First' Dark Magician?" Yami asked. "And the others know your name?" 

"I am the one upon whom all other Dark Magicians are based. Of course each has his own spirit, but all of them have abilities exactly like my own in the game. So...I am...the first." 

Yami stared again. "When, how...did this happen to you?! How is it you are here now, as a card, a monster in Duel Monsters?" 

"I do not know. I presume the Dark Magician has been an active card monster since Duel Monsters' rebirth as a card game, but I was not aware of it. To me it seemed as if I 'woke up' the day Yugi solved your Puzzle. Since then, whenever Yugi plays his Dark Magician card, it is my honor to serve as his, and your, Dark Magician," Mahaad explained. 

"You have trained him well, Yami, that he respects his cards as he does. Many things about Yugi remind me of you," Mahaad continued softly. 

Yami smiled. "Thank you for the compliment! But, I can not claim to have taught Yugi that, Mahaad. Yugi is Yugi. My only influence on him has been to help him with the Shadow Games. The way he respects his cards, the fact that your card is his favorite, and how he treats everyone he meets, is all part of just how he is. I should know, as I now share his mind. He has his own darkness, but the balance of his mind is light." 

"And so he helps you willingly in your ancient strife against the dark forces trying to take over the power of the Shadow Game," Mahaad approved. 

While Yami and Mahaad discussed the import of what had happened to each of them, Akai realized that Mahaad, the other Dark Magician, had been able to act as more than a card monster in the duel against Arcana because under it all, he WAS more than just a card. So the power to act on his own will would not be anything that Akai could ever enjoy on the duel field, as he had secretly wished. 

"_He is more,_" Akai thought. "_So much more, than just a card monster, but that is all I am. Arcana was right. I am just a pawn in someone's hand. I suppose it is an improvement if that hand is gentle. But from the sound of it, my card won't be used...I won't be active, much anymore. Yami, and probably Yugi too, favor the Dark Magician just because he is Mahaad. Whether they knew it or not, before today._" 

He looked over to where Yami and Mahaad continued their discussion. The way they stood next to each other, as if they would take on all the evil in the world and win somehow as long as they were side by side, clearly showed the friendship between them. Something in Akai yearned for that. He remembered how it had felt when his spirit appeared again on the dueling field after he had been so ingloriously sent to the Graveyard by his own master. He had stood shoulder to shoulder with Yugi's Dark Magician Girl, giving her all the power he was permitted to. At his other shoulder had been...the other Dark Magician, Mahaad. 

"_I am just a card. It is only because he is more, and he needed my help, that such an amazing thing happened. I'm...grateful that I got to see Arcana's face when he realized my involvement in his downfall...but, though I won't have to listen to grandiose speeches about fear and power controlling me anymore, it's going to be just the way it was. Yami respects Mahaad and Yugi respects his Dark Magician because HE is so much more than just a card monster...and a card monster is all I am._" 

Akai's face darkened even as his thoughts turned dark. 

"My pharaoh, I have a request," Mahaad stated. 

"Go ahead, my friend." 

"Could you and Yugi, when you are not using the deck, store it in the Puzzle Box more often? I crafted that Box, if you recall. A considerable amount of my magic is 'archived' there. When the deck is in the Box, I am able to tap that power and we...your cards...are able to converse with one another. I suspect it is like the Shadow Realm or Graveyard, another dimension removed from this one, but much smaller, a pocket dimension. Only the monsters of your deck appear there." Mahaad explained. "This is something I've wanted to request for a long time." 

Yami seemed stunned again. "I've learned so much today! The other cards...the other monsters...?" 

"All of us are loyal to you and Yugi. But all the cards in your deck are much more than they ever appear to be in a duel," Mahaad told him. 

"Of course we can store the deck in the Box. We will start right away! So...our 'card monsters' have will and...'life' apart from the duels. Interesting! But...what happens when we don't store the cards in the Box? What happens to you when we aren't dueling, Mahaad? You aren't just a card!" 

"I sleep. Sleep, waking only to appear on a dueling field to fight for Yugi and returning to sleep when it is over." Mahaad told him simply. "I suspect it is the same for all your card monsters." 

"A life of sleeping and dueling. Some might see that as an ideal life," Yami mused. 

"We...do not." 

"I suspect not. We will place the deck in your Box whenever we are not expecting to duel. It is...the least I can do for you, old friend!" 

"Thank you, my pharaoh." 

"You can't...I'm not... You can't refer to me as 'pharaoh' in duels, Mahaad." 

"I know. I don't talk during a duel. Talking is not something a card monster does, but I always think of you as 'my pharaoh'. You must not call me 'Mahaad' in duels either. There, I am...the Dark Magician." 

"It taxes Yugi when I use the power of the Puzzle like this," Yami admitted regretfully. "I wish we could talk more..." 

Mahaad smiled again. "Harming Yugi is not something either of us wishes to do. It is enough that you know I still fight for your cause, my pharaoh." Mahaad told him simply. 

Yami nodded. A sad smile touched his face, before he turned to regard Akai again. "I did achieve what I set out to do also. Akai, the Red Dark Magician, as he is no threat to Yugi, is a welcome addition to Yugi's deck. I will see you, both of you, in duels." 

Mahaad's nod of acceptance was a shade quicker than Akai's. Yami smiled as both Dark Magicians faded from the labyrinth of his mind. 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

Oh dear. Please be gentle, as my knowledge of the actual (Japanese version) story is very weak. I expect that some, if not all, of what I write here will be in contradiction with the official story. I'm definitely writing without a net on this one! 

With a bit of luck, and your patience, I hope to write a story based on some of the characters from Yu-Gi-Oh, that a reader might say 'it _could_ be that way' as he or she reads it, even if it ultimately contradicts the official story. Hopefully, it will be a rather cool look at the relationships of Yugi and Yami to their cards, as well as the cards among themselves! 

I have something of a shrine to the Dark Magician (my favorite card and character) on my site. There I have written everything I know about the Dark Magician and who I am led to believe he used to be 5,000 years ago in Egypt - Yami's high priest, Mahaad. 

(For some reason, ff.net is stripping the URL. You will need to cut and paste the bit below to my main URL from my profile.)   
/shrines/shrinedarkmagician.html 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   
  



	2. Magic Box

**Respect**

**Chapter Two - Magic Box**

Akai lifted his head. Again he was in complete darkness. The light touch on his shoulder told him without words who was with him.

"Mahaad?"

"Akai. Let me show you the way to get to the Magic Box. It's a simple, but precise, card magic manipulation..."

Akai felt Mahaad do...something. He sensed it, not quite with his magic, as when he used a Dark Magic attack, but with a magic sense that was somehow deeper than his Dark Magic. A magic he'd never been aware of before.

"There!" Mahaad stated with satisfaction. As before, light met Akai's eyes, forcing him to close them until they could adapt. When he could open them comfortably, he noticed they were in a place seemingly suffused with golden sunlight, but offering deep shadows on the edges. As he glanced around, he noticed a fire pit and a fountain; a verdant forest and a dead sere area; a gaping tunnel leading down into the earth, the open regions of air above and the shore of a great sea. He realized this one place, unlike the Graveyard, held regions comfortable to every type of duel monster.

"Where?"

Mahaad smiled. "This is what I meant when I told Yami that I was able to tap the banked power of the Magic Box I crafted. This is the region my mind creates. I willingly share it with all the cards in Yugi's deck."

Mahaad led Akai through each of the areas. Yugi's Celtic Guardian, Celedor, rested in the forest region. His words were courteous, but Akai noted the concern buried deep in the elf warrior's eyes. Gaia, the Fierce Knight willingly brought Ashelocke, Yugi's Curse of Dragon, down in one of the shadow regions, ending their practice drill. Akai felt carefully leashed hostility from both monsters.

"Hmm. Dark. I like!" Akai felt a hand slide up over his arm boldly. Surprised, he glanced into teasing yellow eyes. The woman had wings and skin of ebony.

"Marie," Mahaad sighed. "Please don't trouble Akai too much! Marie is a Fallen One," he explained for Akai.

"'Akai'?" she sneered. "'Red'? What kind of a name is that!"

"Don't scoff, Marie," Mahaad advised. "Yami himself gave Akai his name. How many here can claim that distinction?"

"Feh!" She looked Akai up and down one more time with her hungry gaze. "If you aren't quite so stuffy as Mahaad here, come and see me sometime!" She took off into the air on her black wings.

"Marie is...perhaps a bit bitter. She is a powerful fighter, but her best ability comes forth once she is sent to the Graveyard," Mahaad noted watching after her. "But there are more here to meet."

All of Yugi's duel monsters were polite but seemed wary, hostile or otherwise concerned in some way about Akai's presence here.

"Oh. Why did you bring _him_ here?" the pretty Dark Magician Girl demanded as Mahaad led him to where many of the female monsters tended to congregate.

"Mind your manners, Mana," Mahaad advised mildly. "Akai is one of Yugi's cards. He has the right to be here."

"But he tried to...no, he did hurt Yugi!" Mana protested.

"Do not forget that when it mattered the most Akai helped you," Mahaad reminded her. "He is one of Yugi's cards now. We should welcome him."

"Hmph!" Mana crossed her arms and flounced, turning her back on Akai. The Mystical Elf, whose name was Vialla, caught Akai's eye and smiled a slight, rueful smile.

"They will come around," Mahaad reassured as he led Akai to the next section. "As you start to help Yugi in duels, they will start to accept you."

Akai appreciated that Mahaad was trying to offer comfort, but wondered if it would be true. Monsters who hadn't even been used in the battle against Arcana seemed to hate him just as much as the Dark Magician Girl.

"Perhaps I shouldn't come here again," Akai pondered aloud. "I could just remain asleep unless Yugi needs me in a duel."

"You could..." Mahaad replied. "But..." He paused to think.

"There is one place you will always be accepted here," Mahaad told him. "My workshop." He turned to walk toward the modest structure rising up from the very center of the Magic Box. Mana rushed to intercept them.

"What are you doing, Mahaad!" she demanded. "You won't even take me to the atelier! Why does _he_ get to go! Just because he's a Dark Magician!"

"Yes."

Mana stood stunned as Mahaad brushed past her. Tears of frustration started in her eyes. She whirled.

"You! Red Dark Magician!" All conversations stopped and everyone turned to see what was breaking the peace of the Magic Box. Every eye was on the Dark Magician Girl. "Step one foot in there and I swear...I'll NEVER accept you!" she cried out.

"It is such behavior that shows me you aren't ready to enter the atelier, Mana," Mahaad warned her.

Embarrassed by the public dressing-down by the master she was apprenticed to, the Dark Magician Girl dashed into the comforting arms of the Mystical Elf and Lady of Faith.

"Mana has always been loyal but headstrong," Mahaad noted. "I care for her dearly, but there are times she behaves like such a child. Until she matures past such outbursts, I dare not trust her with the secrets of my atelier."

Akai felt completely at ease the moment he stepped into Mahaad's workshop. Dark Magic seemed to flow from the very walls, recharging his energy. Tomes of magic, crucibles, beakers, powders of every color in containers of every shape and size strewn across a work table showed that this room really was a place to research and work magic.

He turned and smiled toward the Dark Magician watching him so closely.

"That's the first real smile I've ever seen from you, Akai," Mahaad noted. "My workshop pleases you?"

"It feels like..." Akai searched for the word, "...home."

"I hope that someday you will feel that about every area of the Magic Box. You really are one of us, one of Yugi's cards now."

"Come."

Akai furrowed his brow, wondering what Mahaad was talking about as he turned away from the door leading from the small workshop.

"This is why Mana is not yet mature enough to enter here. You have reason to know all the Dark Magic secrets of Yugi's deck," Mahaad explained. A gesture caused a door to appear, floating in the middle of the room. He opened the door and gestured for Akai to proceed him. Mahaad was careful about closing the magic door behind him, so that if someone were rash enough to enter his workshop, they would not stumble across its ultimate secret.

"And so, now you know," Mahaad said sometime later after he and Akai had returned to the small work room.

"Incredible! For all his ranting, Arcana knew nothing of the Dark Magician," Akai shook his head in pity for his former master.

"Arcana..." Akai's face darkened.

"What are you thinking?" Mahaad asked. He was concerned about Akai for two reasons. First, it would be nothing but good for Yugi to have the power of another Dark Magician in his deck. In order for Yugi to truly tap that power, Akai would have to come to terms with the other card monsters of Yugi's deck, and, more importantly, they would have to come to terms with him. Mahaad also wanted Akai to be content in his new situation. For Akai to remind himself about Arcana concerned Mahaad. Though there was no reason for it, Mahaad knew Akai could still hold loyalty for his former master. If such were the case, Akai would not be happy here in Yugi's deck until he let such feelings go.

"Arcana...trimmed my card. I just now realized. Yugi can't use it in duels, as he duels with honor. He'd never use a cheat like my card!"

"So Arcana diminished you in fact as well as in spirit. Do not concern yourself. My Magic Box will remedy the flaw of your card," Mahaad told him. "Ah! I've not told you why it is so important that Yugi's other card monsters accept you!"

Akai turned his head to indicate he was listening.

"Yugi is so earnest! It's kind of cute. He calls it the 'heart of the cards'," Mahaad smiled indulgently. "I suppose it is in a way. You will see. Whenever Yugi's in a duel all his card monsters are aware of it. Even if a certain card is not in his deck, that card monster is aware of his actions in duels."

Akai realized that was why so many of Yugi's card monsters disliked him. They had watched him attack Yugi in the duel with Arcana.

"As the duel unfolds sometimes we can tell that Yugi will need to draw a certain card. When that happens, we...make certain the proper card is on the top," Mahaad explained a bit uncomfortably.

Akai grinned. "Are you telling me you cheat!"

Mahaad drew himself up straight and crossed his arms defensively. "Certainly not! Cheating is when a player does something outside of the rules of the game to gain an unfair advantage! We're his cards. We just..."

"Stack the deck in his favor?" Akai suggested.

Mahaad nodded, still uncomfortable. "We never do it in ordinary duels. It's only when absolutely necessary that we will 'card shuffle' someone to the top. Even then, Yugi still has to figure out on his own how to use that monster, trap, or spell card properly."

"Hmm," Akai indicated that he understood. It wasn't exactly cheating, as Yugi didn't do anything to cause it. Yugi's connection with his cards was much deeper than Arcana's had been, probably much deeper than Yugi himself was aware of.

"Until everyone accepts you, I don't think we could card shuffle you well," Mahaad explained.

"I can't imagine Yugi would use my card in place of yours. If he needs a Dark Magician, it makes sense that the deck would shuffle you to the top," Akai countered.

"Perhaps. Still..." Mahaad interrupted himself. "Ah. The wait is over. Yugi's opening the box."

"Does this place just...disappear when you aren't here? Make all the cards not used in the deck go to sleep?" Akai asked.

"No, the Magic Box remains even if I'm not here. But I don't think you have to worry about that right now."

"Pardon?"

"Yugi's looking for your card," Mahaad informed him.

"Oh," Akai swallowed. He'd been in countless duels. Why was the prospect of a duel making him so nervous! Maybe that it was the first duel he would be in as Yugi's card monster. That had to be it. He'd never been played by any other duelist than Arcana. He had no idea what to expect...

-------------  
Author's notes -

I've definitely departed from both the Japanese and the American versions of Yu-Gi-Oh with this story. Hopefully, it isn't too weird or unbelievable.

The names for specific card monsters, with the exception of Marie (the official card name is Marie The Fallen One), Gaia (Gaia the Fierce Knight) and Mana (according to my knowledgeable friend, Mana is the name of Mahaad's apprentice from 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt), are just ones I thought fit the monster. Why shouldn't Yugi's cards each have their own name?

It seems to me that whenever Yugi relies on "the heart of the cards" he manages to pull exactly the card he needs for the duel he's in, even if he doesn't know which card that should be. (In one of the Gameboy games, Yugi says he 'mind-shuffles' his cards.) So I just came up with a card-centered explanation for it! Yes, this story IS all about the cards!

Next Chapter teaser - Dueling Field

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!


	3. Dueling Field

**Respect******

**Chapter Three - Dueling Field**

"Flame Swordsman! Attack the Red Dark Magician with Salamandra!" 

Akai barely had time to focus his eyes on the dueling field before he was defeated and sent to the Graveyard. 

"Jo-ey!" Yugi complained. 

"Wha...? Oh, sorry, Yugi!" Joey was contrite as his heavily boosted Flame Swordsman took out Yugi's Red Dark Magician. 

"How am supposed I to work with this new card monster at all if you send him right away to the Graveyard?!" Yugi continued in an aggrieved tone. 

Joey ran his hand through his hair. "It's your fault anyway!" he snapped. 

"How is it my fault?!" Yugi demanded. 

"I've learned the hard way how not-good it is to let you get a Dark Magician out during a duel! Heh, heh!" 

Yugi blinked at him, then smiled. 

"That bad, huh?" 

"Yeah, pal. That bad. Once you get ole DM out, I haven't got a chance!" 

"Well, this is a different Dark Magician," Yugi noted, picking up the Red Dark Magician card from his Graveyard pile so he could look at the picture. 

"Come on, Yug. One Dark Magician is like any other. Especially in the hands of the master!" Joey teased. "You don't think this one's gonna play differently just because the image is different, do you?" 

"Maybe what he can do won't be any different, but he _is_ different, Joey. I can just tell," Yugi tried to explain. "The look in his eyes during the duel with Arcana went beyond any programming of the duel disk system. I really think there is a difference between him and my Dark Magician. A difference in his heart." 

Joey half-smirked at him. "Whatever, pal. I think you're just trying to sucker me into letting you get him on the field without taking him out right away!" 

Yugi grinned up at Joey. "Well, there is that too!" he admitted. 

"I _knew_ it!" 

******** 

"I now see why you talk with the monsters in the Graveyard," Akai admitted, walking up to where Mahaad was seated on a gravestone. "It would be very boring otherwise!" 

Mahaad laughed ruefully, having been taken out of the duel by one of Joey's monsters a few turns before Akai had been summoned to the field. 

"Joey's learned not to let Yugi get his Dark Magician out unchallenged," Mahaad admitted. "He's apt to use a strong attack as soon as Yugi plays my card. I'm sorry that's making it hard for you now." 

"No matter," Akai seated himself on the tombstone next to Mahaad. "I've got the feeling that somehow Yugi will find a way around it." 

"Oh, he will. You'll fight for him yet!" 

"But...you pay attention to Yugi's opponent? Enough to know his name even?" Akai asked. 

"It's important to know Yugi's opponents, too. Joey is a friend of Yugi's, though they have faced each other as opponents in duels of consequence too. Joey's not one to ease up and just let Yugi get your card out without sending you to the Graveyard, but don't worry. Yugi will find a way to get you into the duel." 

"Of course that means I'll probably languish here in the Graveyard for a while..." Mahaad mourned. 

"Awww!" Akai teased. 

Mahaad just rolled his eyes. A moment later, Akai vanished. 

******** 

"...Reborn the Monster! Recovering my Red Dark Magician from the Graveyard!" Yugi finished. 

"Dammit!" Joey exclaimed. "I haven't got anything strong enough to send him back!" 

"Well then! I finally get to play my new card!" Yugi seemed satisfied. 

Akai was just a bit stunned. Not that he'd been recovered from the Graveyard with Reborn the Monster, even Arcana had done that, but that Yugi would opt to recover him, not Mahaad. He still thought of Mahaad as "Yugi's Dark Magician" even though he was Yugi's now too. Maybe actually playing for Yugi would help him to feel more like he belonged here. He hoped so. 

Constrained by the protocols of the duel, Akai could only pose impressively and wait while Joey played his turn. Akai noticed that Yugi had somehow deprived Joey's Flame Swordsman of his Salamandra boost. 

"Let's see what you can do. Red Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" 

Akai moved willingly at Yugi's command, leveling his staff at Joey's Flame Swordsman. 

"_Give Mahaad my regards!_" Akai thought as the Swordsman exploded in defeat at the touch of his Dark Magic. His task completed, Akai crossed his arms and returned to floating in position. 

"Huh. Looks like a regular old Dark Magic Attack to me!" Joey noted. "Annoying as usual!" 

"Yeah...but..." 

Only then did Akai realize that Yugi had been watching his performance very closely. 

"Yami said that he was different," Yugi explained. "And that Arcana had mistreated him." 

"That one?! No offense, pal, I know you two got the whole mystic connection goin' on and all, but sometimes I wonder if Yami's got ancient dust for brains!" 

"Hey!" 

"Heh, heh! Are you finished? Is it my turn?" 

******** 

"You were wonderful!" Rowan, the Lady of Faith, claimed as she stepped forward and took Akai's arm between her hands in a friendly manner. "That hit from Joey's Red Eyes looked like it hurt! Come over here and rest a while," she suggested as she led Akai to sit on a tree stump in the forest area of the Magic Box. 

"Vialla! Looks who's back!" 

"What?" Akai asked, looking up at Mahaad. 

"Let them fuss over you," Mahaad suggested. "It's how they show they care." 

"They...care...?!" Mahaad nodded once into Akai's stunned eyes, grasped his staff and walked off toward his workshop. 

"Oh! Akai! tell us what it was like!" Vialla rushed up with a smile. "Are you hurt?" 

Mahaad smiled to himself as he heard Yugi's two most soft-hearted monsters welcoming Akai in their own special way by having him recount the duel from his point of view while they exclaimed appropriately at his actions. Mahaad knew the girls knew it had been a very basic duel, but their behavior was the tentative beginning of the other card monsters accepting Akai into Yugi's deck. 

Mana pushed herself off the wall of the atelier as Mahaad approached. 

"Master," she greeted. Mahaad lifted his eyebrow. 

"Why are you not with Vialla and Rowan welcoming Akai back from his duel?" Mahaad asked. 

"You want me to twitter senselessly like them over that...Red Dark Magician?!" Mana made a face. "I thought...perhaps...you might let me..." 

"Enter the workshop?" Mahaad finished. "Not today. You are not yet ready." 

"When will I be ready?!" Mana demanded petulantly. 

Mahaad laid a hand on her shoulder, trying to soothe her frustration. "That is entirely up to you, Mana. I would suggest learning what you can about Dark Magic from the new Dark Magician." 

"Him?! What can he teach me that I don' t already know?!" 

"You won't find that out by asking me," Mahaad replied before he turned and entered the atelier, firmly closing the door behind him. 

******** 

"So, how goes it this time?" Mahaad asked as Akai appeared in the Graveyard again. 

"Joey is very tough today!" 

"I told you!" Mahaad laughed. "But how is it fighting on Yugi's side?" 

"Frustrating. I can't explain it, except...in all these duels, I have to be the Dark Magician. Just the Dark Magician. I'm glad that my attacks and abilities are for Yugi now, but I can't tell him that or show him that somehow. All I can do is obey his commands like I did for Arcana. How is it any different?" 

"In some ways it isn't. When you use a Dark Magic Attack it does the same damage as mine would. We both summon the same number of Magical Hats and they behave the same way. In many ways, we are identical." 

"So how am I any different than you? Or...how am I any different than the other two Dark Magicians in Arcana's deck? I am...just a card monster...like any other..." Akai realized. "No matter what you try to say!" 

"Yes...in and of yourself you are just a card monster. The difference in any card monster is in their duelist and how that duelist treats his cards," Mahaad replied serenely. "And then in how you respond to that treatment. You are suspicious now because of how Arcana treated you. As you get accustomed to how Yugi treats you, you will come to trust him. He will come to trust you. And that is where all the difference is." 

"Trust," Akai murmured. "Somehow...I thought being Yugi's card would be different somehow. That I would be able to..." 

"Able to what?" Mahaad asked softly. 

Akai shook his head in frustration. "I was wrong. It doesn't matter." 

******** 

"So, what do you think of your new card?" Yami asked internally. 

"The Red Dark Magician? He's okay...." 

"What's wrong?" Yami asked, sensitive as always to Yugi's moods. 

"I know what I saw in the fight with Arcana. This Dark Magician," Yugi held up the card, looking for the hundredth time at the image, "seemed to be...more than just a card somehow. But...what if Joey is right? In all these duels using him, I haven't seen anything at all to show that he is more than just a card monster. What if he really is no different than any other Dark Magician card?" 

"Do you believe that?" 

"N, No..." Yugi replied slowly. "Would it make sense if I told you I think he," Yugi lifted the Red Dark Magician card, "is just as frustrated as I am? I wish I could talk with him as you did...face to face..." 

"No, Yugi. Without the Millennium Key it's too dangerous for you to try to enter the labyrinth of my mind!" Yami exclaimed. 

"I know. I won't try. I just wish I could, so I could meet 'Akai' as you did..." Yugi finished wistfully. 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to do some research for the next two chapters. I want to make sure of my facts before I write them into a story. So don't be surprised if the next chapter takes a bit longer for me to finish. I'm also afraid if I don't write another chapter for another of my stories in progress *pokes Cybercat* I'm going to get a visit from an irate dhampir. Or *shudder* his Left Hand! 

Next Chapter teaser - Shadow Realm 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   
  



	4. Shadow Realm

**Respect**

**Chapter Four - Shadow Realm**

"Are you sure about this?" Joey demanded. 

"Yes, I'm certain," Yami Yugi replied. "Let me see your deck, Joey." 

"Sure." Joey handed his deck over. Yami thumbed through it quickly, finding the card he wanted, slipping it from Joey's deck and substituting a new one. He slid Joey's card into his pocket. 

"_Yami?_" Yugi's mind-voice was gently hesitant. "_Joey is there? Can I come out now?_ " 

"_My surprise is ready, Yugi. Thank you for staying in your 'room' and granting me the privacy I needed. Yes, Joey is here. You do not need to stay isolated any longer._" Yami felt as Yugi opened the door between their minds again, reinstating the full merge between them. 

When Shadi had mistakenly invaded their minds with his Millennium Key, they discovered how a corridor both connected and separated Yami's mind from Yugi's. Since then, they had used that knowledge to lessen or deepen the connection between them at will. Today was the first time Yami had asked for as nearly complete a separation as they could manage, allowing him to act without Yugi knowing what he was doing. He was pleased that Yugi had granted that request without demanding an explanation or even questioning it at all. It showed Yami how much Yugi had come to trust him. 

Yami hoped that Yugi would like the surprise he had planned. He looked up into Joey's eyes. 

"Let's duel!" He closed his eyes and performed the slight mental twist that allowed him to transport them to the Shadow Realm. 

"Th,The Shadow Realm?! What's up, Yugi?" 

"It's not me! It's Yami!" Yugi exclaimed before Yami spoke to Joey himself. 

"I don't much care for Seto's duel disk system. You're a strong duelist, Joey. I'll help you incarnate your monsters if needed," Yami offered. 

"I dunno. It's weird enough to be duelin' you instead of Yugi, but the Shadow Realm?! Nothing good ever happens here!" Joey shivered. 

"Joey, I'm right here. I won't let things get out of hand," Yami promised. "Trust me." 

The words made him think back to his conversation with the other person whose help he needed to plan this surprise... 

******** 

Yami opened his eyes in the ancient Egyptian tomb that was somehow the spiritual representation of his own mind. Unlike the spiritual representation of Yugi's mind, a bright and cheerful room filled with light, Yami's mind was filled with darkness and a sense of quiet foreboding. Yami knew that someday he would have to thread the labyrinth and unlock the dark secrets of his own past. He dreaded that task and what it would reveal to him. Fortunately, today was not that day. 

"Mahaad?" The name was halfway between a question and a command. 

"My pharaoh!" the Dark Magician appeared, bowing low before him. 

"Mahaad!" Yami smiled. "Certainly here, within my mind, you don't have to be 'just' the Dark Magician!" 

The Dark Magician straightened and smiled. "Does this please you more?" The Dark Magician's form shimmered and changed, becoming a tall, impressive man, clad in ancient Egyptian fashion instead. 

"Let us say that it pleases me in a different way," Yami replied. 

"The diplomat as always, my pharaoh!" Mahaad laughed. "So you have found a way to summon me here without the power of the Puzzle?" 

"No. I still use that power, but more lightly. It should be much less of a strain on Yugi." 

"That is good." 

"Akai...has he...?" Yami began. 

"Akai, my brother Dark Magician, has become as loyal to you and Yugi as any of your card monsters, my pharaoh," Mahaad supplied. 

"Good! I was reassured when I spoke with him here, but still I worried," Yami admitted. 

"I trust him," Mahaad stated simply. 

Yami nodded and cupped his chin. "He has been through so much! Is he...happy, now?" 

Mahaad pondered that. "Happier, certainly. As happy as he could be? I'm still not sure. I sense something troubles him, something he won't share with me. I can tell it is not harmful to Yugi, but whatever it is seems to weigh heavily on Akai. Arcana was quite callously evil to him, and not just in that final duel with Yugi. I have learned that Akai suffered in almost every duel as Arcana's card monster. And Arcana dueled quite a bit." 

"How does Akai feel about Yugi? Yugi has had a chance to summon him to duels several times now." 

"He likes Yugi, even as I do. It may not seem like it to the opponents he duels, but Yugi has a strength that all of his cards can sense." 

Yami smiled. "I'm glad you feel that way!" 

******** 

"I play my Red Dark Magician!" Yami called the move, dragging his thoughts back to the present and his Shadow Duel against Joey. 

Akai could feel a difference as soon as he opened his eyes. He could tell he was still expected to obey his duelist, but it was almost as if some...restraint had been removed. 

"There!" A note of satisfaction rang out in the word. Akai turned his head. He'd heard this voice before! "We meet again, Akai!" 

"Yugi?!" he whispered, incredulous that he was addressed by his name and allowed to speak on the dueling field. 

"No!" The voice barely suppressed a laugh. "You confuse me with him yet again! I am Yami!" 

"Wow! Yugi tried to tell me he thought the Red Dark Magician was different, but I didn't believe him!" Joey exclaimed. "This is amazing!" 

"Why am I..." Akai looked at his hands, then up at Joey's giant face peering down at him curiously, "...so small?" 

"Ah, this is a Shadow Duel. We could incarnate you duel monsters much larger, but that takes more energy from the duelists," Yami explained. "It is really troublesome for you?" he asked. 

"No," Akai shrugged. "As long as the opposing monsters aren't huge it shouldn't be a problem." 

"Good. Joey, my turn is over." 

"I never let Yugi get his Dark Magician on the field without trying to take him out right away. I'm sorry, Akai, but I'm pretty sure it's just as bad to let Yami get a Dark Magician out too!" Joey said, placing his monster card on the field. His Red Eyes Black Dragon materialized. 

"And just to make sure, I'll give him Dragon Nails!" The Red Eyes flexed his already massive claws and metal appeared to clad and reinforce them. "Attack the Red Dark Magician, Red Eyes!" 

"Joey, Joey, Joey," Yami teased as he turned a card. "Do you think I wasn't ready for that? I'll protect my Dark Magician! Akai, cast Magical Hats and conceal yourself!" 

Akai smiled that Yami wanted to keep him in the duel. Actually, Magical Hats was one of Akai's favorite spells. He performed the trick with a flourish and was rewarded with Yami's delighted laugh as the hat came over him to hide him. 

"Grr! I hate it when Yugi does that!" Joey fumed. "It's just as annoying when you do it, Yami!" 

Yami laughed. "Pick a hat, Joey, and end your turn." 

"Eh...Red Eyes, attack the left hat!" 

"Apparently you picked wrong," Yami noted as the dust cleared. He drew a card. "I'll place this card under one of the hats and end my turn." 

"Sheesh! As if Yugi hasn't played this combo on me before!" Joey complained. "You slipped a Spellbinding Circle under there, didn't you?!" 

"You could always attack a hat and find out," Yami suggested mildly. 

"I'll put Swamp Battleguard down instead, in defense mode. That's it, my turn is over." 

"I'll place one more card under a hat," Yami grinned. "Your turn, Joey." 

Joey sighed in frustration. "You're gonna make me do it aren't you? Grr! Swamp Battleguard isn't strong enough to take your Red Dark Magician if he's lucky enough to find him, and now you have two unknowns under there too! I can't risk it...Red Eyes, attack the middle hat!" 

"Ah, you found my De-spell Card! Bye-bye, Dragon Nails!" Yami noted. "Making Red Eyes manageable for my two Dark Magicians! You can both leave the Magical Hats now! They've served their purpose!" 

Two Dark Magicians? Akai had never been on the field at the same time with Mahaad; Joey had aptly seen to that! This could actually be fun! He leaped out the top of the Magical Hat, flipped a somersault just for the fun of it and landed in front of the purple Dark Magician. 

His grin fell when he looked into the other Dark Magician's face. 

"Uhm... Hi, Akai..." Yugi smiled sheepishly at him. "I guess this is the secret Yami's been trying so hard to keep from me!" 

******** 

"Do you remember the duel against the 'evil' Seto Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom?" Yami recalled the rest of his secret labyrinth conversation with Mahaad. 

"When the real Seto Kaiba actually helped Yugi defeat one of the Blue Eyes White Dragons? Yes." 

"And Yugi's duel against Panic to regain Mai's star chips?" 

"Yes." 

"Were you aware that there was a duel between those two duels?" 

"No..." Mahaad shook his head before staring at Yami with a stunned expression. "There was?!" 

Yami smiled again. "It was a Shadow Duel. That was the first time since Yugi solved the Puzzle that he and I had been separated. Bakura used the power of the Millennium Ring to place Yugi's soul, and the souls of all his friends, into their favorite cards." 

Mahaad glanced at Yami sharply. 

"I am...the Dark Magician is Yugi's favorite card... What happened?" 

"Exactly what you are thinking. When Yugi played the Dark Magician in that duel, his soul was transported down to the game within the Dark Magician. I became the player in his place. My question is: what happened to your soul, to you, when that happened?" 

Mahaad cupped his chin and floated up a few inches into the pondering pose of the Dark Magician. Yami smiled that the unconscious idiosyncrasy of his friend had transferred unchanged into the duel monster he'd been forced to become. 

"The Millennium Items have always been the most powerful and uncontrollable of all magic. Since I have no memory at all of the duel, I suspect I remained 'asleep' so that Yugi could duel in my place. Was he able to use...?" 

"Yugi enjoyed being the Dark Magician, and using your powers, very much," Yami told him. 

Mahaad smiled. 

"I am honored. Did he get to use any of the fun spells? Magic Box of Death or Magical Hats?" 

"Regrettably, no. Only the Dark Magic Attack." 

Mahaad glanced sideways at his oldest friend. "So, what do you plan, my pharaoh?" The words were respectful, but the teasing tone was not. "Why tell me this?" 

"Hear me out!" Yami laughed. "Do you think..." 

******** 

"Yugi! Down there?!" Joey exclaimed, looking down at his tiny friend. "So that's why you wanted to look through my deck!" Joey narrowed his eyes at Yami. 

Yami laughed and pulled Joey's Flame Swordsman card from his pocket. "Yes, I couldn't have you going down to the field too!" 

"Yugi...down here? How?!" Akai demanded. "And what about Mahaad?!" 

"Akai," Yugi stepped forward to place a calming hand on the Red Dark Magician's arm. "It's okay! Actually, if I had known Yami could do it, I would have asked for him to do just this thing! I've been frustrated, trying to learn about you in duels, but in regular duels you have to act as just a duel monster. Here, in the Shadow Realm in a duel against Joey you can..." 

"Be yourself," Yami finished. "As for Mahaad, he's honored to let Yugi borrow his power. I checked with him before deciding to do this." 

"But...what did you do?" Akai asked, still confused. Yugi was his duelist, his...master. As much as he hated the word now because of how Arcana had treated him, it was still the correct word. How could Yugi be so happy to be...demeaned like this?! 

"Let me explain it, Yami!" Yugi insisted. His eyes were happy as he looked up earnestly into Akai's eyes. "Once before, for a very evil purpose, my soul was placed into my favorite card. During that duel, when I played the Dark Magician, suddenly I was on the field _as_ the Dark Magician. It was a very serious duel, for very high stakes, so I really couldn't enjoy it. Now..." 

"Now, the stakes are light enough that you can enjoy yourself. You also have a chance to interact with Akai face to face as you wished," Yami told Yugi softly. 

"Yeah..." Yugi agreed. Akai's amazement deepened. Yugi wanted to...meet him? Enough to accept what Yami had done to bring that meeting about?! 

"Now, my two Dark Magicians, you have a Red Eyes Black Dragon to attend to!" Yami stated, bringing everyone's attention back to the duel. 

******** 

"Mahaad?! Where's Mahaad?!" Mana was frantic. 

"I saw him enter his atelier earlier," Rowan told her. "Why, what's happening?" 

"Oh...nothing. I just had a Dark Magic question," Mana told her. "Nothing to be concerned about." 

Mana waited until Rowan's attention was elsewhere before she stealthily made her way over to Mahaad's workshop. The attitudes of the other cards toward Akai had been slowly changing, so everyone in the Magic Box now knew whenever the Red Dark Magician was in a duel. What the rest of the card monsters didn't have was Mana's Dark Magic sense. She could tell that there were TWO Dark Magicians fighting for Yugi in the duel. And she could tell that neither of them was her Dark Magic master. 

Her heart thudded as she took the latch in her hand. Mahaad had forbidden her to enter his workshop until she was 'ready'. Mana wondered if she would ever be 'ready'. After a while she had comforted herself with the thought that Mahaad just wanted one area that was his alone...that it wasn't that SHE wasn't ready, it was him. That he didn't want to share his secrets. 

Then HE showed up. Akai. The very first time he was here, Mahaad took him into the workshop! Mahaad had opened his secret workshop to this...intruder! Mana never thought she could hate. She now knew she was wrong. 

But now...two Dark Magicians dueled for Yugi and neither one was Mahaad! She was worried. Had Akai somehow used the knowledge of the workshop to usurp Mahaad's position? 

Mahaad had seen the determined look on his apprentice's face countless times. He worried that this time she would actually enter his workshop. She wouldn't see anything, not even him. Mahaad wondered what he would do if she did, ultimately, enter unbidden. It would be the final severing of the master/apprentice trust between them if she broke his rule. He was hardly in a position to enforce it though. It was taking all his concentration to maintain his consciousness as Yugi dueled in his place. Mahaad had woven his soul into the very magic of his atelier so he could witness and remember the duel. If Mana were to break her word with him, there wasn't anything he could do to stop her. 

"Mahaad! Master," Mana sighed, removing her hand from the latch. "You always seem to know what's going on. I guess...I'll trust that you know now." 

Suddenly she remonstrated herself. "Come on, Mana! How could you sense something dealing with Dark Magic that Mahaad didn't? He probably knew about it before you even thought to look! I guess, I'll just...wait. If I need to know what it's all about, he'll tell me. I think. Maybe he'll just tell Akai... Since I don't seem to matter to him anymore..." 

Mana had tears in her eyes as she turned from the atelier door and walked off into the forest area. 

Mahaad would have smiled if he could. "_Putting your jealousy toward Akai aside for a moment, you've taken the first step, Mana!_" he thought to himself. "_Just trust me..._" 

******** 

"No! My Red Eyes!" Joey exclaimed as the Spellbinding Circle cast by Yugi, immediately followed by the Dark Magic attack from Akai, sent his most powerful monster to the Graveyard. Joey had tried to boost his dragon again, but Yami somehow held just the cards to let his Dark Magicians stop him. 

"Uhm..." Joey surveyed the cards in his hand and wondered what he'd be able to do. Of course he didn't want to hurt Yugi, who was playing as a duel monster now, but he didn't want to give his friend a wimpy, easy duel either. That would be too boring. 

He drew a card. Hmm? Did he have... 

Yes! It was already in his hand! What luck! But how to do this...Yugi had seen the combo before, so certainly Yami was aware of it... 

"I play Time Wizard in defense mode," Joey declared, placing the card on the field. "And I set this card face down too." He placed a card in the nebulous card monster/trap card area in front of him. 

"And I end my turn." 

Joey had never thought that the color purple was particularly intimidating before. That was before he'd faced Yami's hard gaze across a dueling field. 

"Notwithstanding what your plan is Joey," Yami began. "I can't let you use your Time Wizard. I have no idea what would happen if you aged the Dark Magician one thousand years while he is housing Yugi's soul. But I don't want to risk one of my Dark Magicians against your face-down card either, in case it is a trap instead of the Baby Dragon. So..." 

Yami pulled the card from his hand and turned it so Joey and the Dark Magicians could see. 

"Yugi, would you like to perform Magic Box of Death?" Yami asked. Yugi had begun to nod when Akai stepped between them. 

"No, allow me. It's not enough to wield Dark Magic. There actually is a trick involved. Yugi can't possibly know it, so he'd be injured," he explained. 

"Oh!" Yugi seemed disappointed. 

"Don't worry! You'll be able to figure it out from your position on the field!" Akai promised. Yami placed the card, incarnating the first Magic Box behind Akai. Akai crossed his arms, turning his wrist so that his staff would line up cleanly along his body and fit properly in the box. He drifted back into the confines of the box triggering the automatic closing of the doors...and the mystic swords that pierced through the box a moment later. Even though he'd seen Yugi's purple Dark Magician perform the trick safely before, Joey jumped. 

A Magic Box appeared on his side of the field in the Time Wizard's square. The box on Yami's side of the field opened to show Joey's Time Wizard skewered on the swords. The final twist of the trick, the box on his side opening to reveal an unharmed Akai, made Yugi clap his hands in delight. 

"Marvelous!" 

"Did you see how I did it?" Akai asked with a conspiratorial wink. 

Yugi nodded. "Yup!" 

Yami smiled down on 'his' two Dark Magicians, pleased that his surprise for Yugi had reaped such benefits. Though Yugi was down on the field, they still maintained a light connection with each other. Yami could tell that Yugi was elated to have been able to 'meet' Akai. He could tell that Yugi liked Akai very much. 

Yami was a bit surprised at how Akai was behaving. Akai was much less stiff and formal than before. Then again, Yami reflected, Yugi had a knack for putting people at ease very quickly. He shouldn't be surprised that Yugi's knack worked for card monsters too. 

It had taken considerable effort and energy on his part to bring this meeting about, but it had been worth it. He looked across the field at Joey to find that Yugi's friend was watching him. 

Joey nodded and winked. 

"Akai, before we get back to the duel..." Yugi began. "Since this is probably going to be the only time I can talk to you face to face, I wanted to thank you." 

"Thank _me_?!" 

"For helping my Dark Magician Girl to defeat Arcana. I suspect that was very hard for you. And I wanted to tell you how happy I am that you are...that you duel...for me now. I've been wanting to tell you that in all the duels where I used your card, but there was no way..." 

"I'm glad to duel for you now...master," Akai admitted softly. 

Yugi shook his head. "Don't call me that! I'm Yugi, just use my name." 

"Yugi..." 

"Yes?" 

"I'll always do my best...for you." 

"There are going to be some times where I might have to let things happen to you, in a duel, but...you should know...I always respect my cards. I'll never belittle you as Arcana did." 

"I saw how hard you tried to protect your Dark Magician in the duel with Arcana. It is...my honor to be your card monster now." 

Yugi just grinned up at Akai. 

"Okay guys, enough sap! Yer gonna make me cry!" Joey complained. "Or am I gonna hafta take one of you out to stop the heart-to-heart here? Did you forget we're in the middle of a duel?!" 

"No, Joey, we didn't forget!" Yugi laughed, turning to face his giant-seeming friend. 

"But don't think it will be so easy," Akai suggested, striding over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Yugi, "to eliminate one of us!" he boasted as he crossed his arms letting the action 'shield' Yugi behind his staff. 

"After all," Yami leaned forward and pinned Joey with his most intimidating stare, "You are still dueling _me_!" 

Joey gulped visibly. "Don't do that!" he complained before winking at Yami again. 

"Come on, Dark Magician Yugi! Let's see what you got!" Joey teased, placing a new card on the field. 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

Please, please, please realize that I've never played a game of Duel Monsters! I tried my best to keep that part of the story true to the game. Please don't quibble if I messed it up to maintain the integrity of my story. 

Next Chapter teaser - ??? (the next chapter is well underway, I just don't want to give it away by posting the title! ^_^) 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   
  
  



	5. Dark Retribution

**Chapter Five - Dark Retribution**

  


"Impressive, Joey! You came so very close to winning, without attacking either of my Dark Magicians!" Yami Yugi praised. 

"I didn't want to hurt Yugi. Akai seems pretty cool too," Joey replied. "That card you snuck into my deck in place of my Flame Swordsman certainly helped." 

"Speaking of that," Yami reached into his pocket pulling the Flame Swordsman card out again, "I should return this to you." 

"Thanks!" Joey accepted his card back. "And here. You should take..." he offered a card to Yami. 

"No, Joey. Keep it as a 'thank you' for dueling against me. I'm sure Dian Keto the Cure Master will come in handy for you in future duels!" 

"So everything's back to the way it's supposed to be," Joey grinned. 

"Yes, it seems so," Yami agreed. 

"Aren't you forgetting something?" 

"Why, what was that, Joey? Did you hear something?" Yami teased. 

"Naw, must just be the wind!" Joey replied. 

"Guys! This isn't funny!" 

"There! I heard it again! It almost sounded like a voice..." Yami mused. 

"A little, tiny voice," Joey agreed. 

"Gu~uys!" 

"They're just teasing you, Yugi," Akai reassured. "Though I wonder if perhaps they go too far!" 

"I get no respect! I only SOLVED THE PUZZLE!" Yugi, still the Dark Magician, clenched his fists around his Dark Magic staff and shouted up from the dueling field. 

"Yes, that you did," Yami suddenly smiled down on the tiny Dark Magicians. They were the only monsters he'd left active on the field after finally winning the duel against Joey. "I suppose I had better return you to where you belong." 

Yami closed his eyes. The Egyptian eye that suddenly glowed on his forehead showed that he was accessing the incredible powers of the Millennium Puzzle. Dark Magician Yugi faded from the field. The glowing eye faded and Yami opened his eyes again. 

"Better?" he asked, easing back from total control now that Yugi was with him again. 

"Well, I had fun dueling as the Dark Magician and meeting face to face with Akai," Yugi replied aloud so Joey and Akai could hear, "but yes. I'm glad to be back where I belong!" 

"Thank you for allowing me to duel with you and not just for you, Yugi...and Yami," Akai suddenly said. "I'm glad to have met both of you, and Joey, too!" 

"Eh, knock it off! I'm sure Yugi'll keep your card in his deck now, Akai!" Joey exclaimed. 

"You bet I will!" Yugi agreed. "So, even if it's just a regular duel where you have to act as just the Red Dark Magician, I'll know you are a whole heck of a lot more, Akai! I'm glad you're in my deck!" 

That seemed as good a place as any for Yami to let the soul of Akai the Red Dark Magician return to his card. Transporting both himself and Joey to the Shadow Realm and incarnating two sets of cards in a duel, while maintaining the Millennium soul spell on Yugi, had taken a toll of even his resources. 

Yugi smiled a bit sadly as he reached down and picked up his deck. "Time to go home, huh?" 

******** 

"Would it be wrong of me to admit I envy you?" Mahaad wondered. 

"Envy...me?!" Akai exclaimed. 

Mahaad smiled as he rose from his seat and paced across the floor of the atelier. "Yes. I will never be able to duel at Yugi's side as you have done." 

"Oh. Because you are his favorite card," Akai realized. "But I am envious of you for that distinction! And others," Akai admitted. 

"'Others'? What are you speaking of?" 

"Even in the duel I was just in, with Yugi on the field, still, my actions were determined by another, by the player," Akai observed. 

"You did warn Yami not to have Yugi cast Magic Box of Death," Mahaad replied. "That was outside your player's control." 

"I merely advised. I did not actually take an action unanticipated by my player, as you have done," Akai countered. "And...how would you know what happened in the duel?! Yugi dueled in your place!" 

Mahaad laughed. "Yes, he did!" He sobered. "I was...shocked when Yami told me that there had been a duel I had no memory of. Knowing that in the next duel, while the powers of the Dark Magician would be needed, my soul would not, I made it so my soul would stay here, in the atelier, so I could observe." 

"I see." Akai stared at Mahaad for a long moment. Truly the first Dark Magician had unexpected abilities! 

"Are you more at ease, Akai? Playing for Yugi that is, now that you've met him?" 

"You told me during that first meeting in the Graveyard that Yugi was not like Arcana," Akai replied. "I now know that to be truth and not merely wishful thinking." 

Mahaad laughed. "Then all is well!" 

"Well..." 

Mahaad decided to bring Akai's reservation out into the open. "You are concerned by Mana's hostility." 

"Yes." 

"Don't be. She behaves as a child much of the time, but when it matters the most she always comes through. She will come to see that you are not a threat to Yugi. She will also see that my respect for you does not change the fact that she is my apprentice. Your presence here does not affect her standing, in Yugi's deck, or with me, in the least. Once she realizes that, her hostility should cease." 

"I hope so." 

"The other card monsters have accepted you, especially now that you've dueled side by side with Yugi! That's a very singular honor, you know!" 

"Singular...no. There were others in that duel!" Akai contradicted. 

"Yes...but they were summoned as only card monsters, not for themselves as you were. Yugi still doesn't realize that most of his cards have individual personalities." 

"How many decks...how many cards, are like us, Mahaad?" Akai asked. 

"It's impossible to say," Mahaad replied. 

******** 

"Just wait until Joey sees these cards!" Yugi enthused. "Thank you so much for telling me about them!" 

"It makes sense for you to have them in your deck, since you favor the Dark Magician so much, Yugi," Yami replied. "Not all of them, all at once like this, though. It would be too much of a handicap this way. I still have to hunt down the ritual cards so you can summon them." 

"Oh, I realize that!" Yugi responded. "I'm only putting them in with my dueling deck until we see Joey! I'm not going to try to duel with them!" 

Yugi put the four new cards Yami had helped him find into his deck case, grabbed his jacket and ran out through the door. 

******** 

A shock, almost like an earthquake, ran through the Magic Box. It was centered on the atelier. 

"Oh...my!" Mahaad said mildly. 

"What, what happened?" Akai asked. 

"A significant power boost to Yugi's deck, if I'm not mistaken. A Dark Magic power boost!" Mahaad ran toward the atelier. 

"Master!" Mana stopped him with her call. "Can't I...can't I come too?" 

He smiled gently as he turned and regarded her. He shook his head. "Not yet." 

Tears rolled down her face as she regarded the backs of the two Dark Magicians until the door of the workshop closed behind them. 

"You'll be invited in someday," Vialla offered in comfort. 

"I don't think I ever will!" Mana wailed out before dashing into the wooded region and out of sight. 

"I hope Mahaad realizes what he's doing to her!" Rowan exclaimed. 

"It seems harsh, but there has to be a reason. He does care for her, after all. She is his apprentice!" Vialla observed. 

******** 

"Surely Yugi doesn't intend to play with his deck this way!" Akai was still stunned as he stood with Mahaad outside the atelier some time later. 

"No, he's done this before. He's just excited by his new cards. He knows it's too unbalanced, I'm certain. Yugi must be going to show them to Joey, that's all," Mahaad smiled. "Though I am excited by the prospect of these cards too! Once he finds the rituals to summon them, that is!" Mahaad's eyes gleamed. 

"What happens...when he summons one of them?" Akai asked. 

"It depends on which one of us is on the field. I have wielded power far beyond that of the Dark Magician before!" 

"R,really?!" 

Mahaad nodded sagely. "I hope you will get to experience that at least once, Akai. There is no feeling in the world like being...increased." 

"Increased?" Mana asked as she walked up. "What do you mean, Master?" 

Mahaad reached over and tipped her helmet to one side playfully. "Nothing you need to worry about just yet, little Mana!" 

"When will I ever learn what the atelier is all about?!" Mana wailed in frustration as she settled her helmet back on her head. It was still askew. 

"When..." 

"'When I am ready.' I know..." Mana sniffled. "Why is it he is already ready?!" She rudely pointed toward the Red Dark Magician with a thumb. 

"Akai? He just is. You are improving though, Mana," Mahaad offered. 

Akai reached over and straightened Mana's helmet before smiling down at her. 

"Humph!" Mana flounced off. Akai sighed. 

"Give her time," Mahaad advised. 

******** 

Yugi dashed into the alley that was the quickest shortcut to Joey's house and pulled up suddenly. Bright sunlight no longer gleamed from the sides of buildings. The frightening miasmic darkness of the Shadow Realm met his horrified gaze instead. He almost didn't notice as Yami surged forward into the position of control, to protect his more vulnerable mind from the malign influences of the Shadow Realm. 

"Who brings me here?!" Yami Yugi demanded aloud in a serious no-nonsense tone. 

"It worked! It worked! He claimed it would, yes he did, but still I wasn't sure, no I wasn't, I wasn't at all! But it did! It worked!" 

A black-cloaked figure stepped forward from the shadows. Something about its appearance teased at Yugi's memory. Yami only half-recognized it too. 

"Why did you bring me here?" Yugi was grateful that Yami was able to act. If the truth were to be told, the Shadow Realm scared him more than he wanted to admit. He hated feeling as if Yami was all that stood between him and a fate he didn't even want to contemplate, but he did. He felt useless in the Shadow Realm. 

"Why, I brought you here to duel, what else?" the mad voice replied. 

"Who are you? Why do you want to duel me?" 

"You can call me...Wrack. As for why I want to duel you..." 

The figure paused for a long, dramatic moment. 

"I hate you, Yugi. But more than that, I hate your deck. And even more than that, one card in particular. Because of that hatred I have researched, read books no sane man would touch, discovered powerful rituals best left alone, and the fruit of my labor is this!" He held up a card but showed Yugi only the back. 

"What is it?" Yugi wondered. 

"You will find out once you play the right card!" 

"Why would I duel you at all?" Yugi asked. He was grateful for the respite Yami had given him, but this duelist said he hated Yugi, not Yami. If there was to be a duel, it was his to fight. 

"A power not your own brought you here. If you do not duel me, and win, you will remain trapped here in the Shadow Realm!" the black-cloaked figure began to laugh madly. Yugi wondered again at his opponent's appearance. The cloak was missing the chains that marked the servants of Marik. Still, somehow, it seemed familiar... 

******** 

The duel had been brutal. Mahaad had already been sent to the Graveyard. Akai waited in attack mode on the field. Gaia the Fierce Knight, Everon the Summoned Skull and Neo the Magic Swordsman shared the field with him. They had been goaded into useless attacks against Mirror Wall, draining their power alarmingly before Yugi had found a way to destroy the Wall. The Hannibal Necromancer leering at him from the other side of the field could now take any one of them out. 

"I play Dark Magician Girl! And I give her the Black Pendant, boosting her power. And my Dark Magician in the Graveyard strengthens her attack, too!" 

The Dark Magician Girl whirled happily as her attack took out the Necromancer. 

"Ah!" Wrack breathed in satisfaction. "There she is! Say good-bye to your Dark Magician Girl, Yugi!"   
  
"This card...I designed it to destroy cards. Not merely take them to the card Graveyard, but once there to grind until it pulls the duel monster apart, destroying it utterly." He pulled something from a hidden pocket and opened his hand to show Yugi. It appeared to be the shredded bits of a duel monster card. 

"What is that?!" 

"I had to test it. As you can see, as the duel monster was destroyed by my lovely card in the Graveyard, his card was destroyed in reality too. It took four turns in the Graveyard for this card to destroy each of my Dark Magicians. I think, to destroy the Dark Magician Girl, it will take only three." 

"In the Graveyard?! Once a card monster goes to the Graveyard, it is out of play! How can anything hurt them there?!" Yugi asked in horror. 

"The Reaper of Cards....funny how no one respects him. Researches him. How is he able to affect card monsters in the Graveyard? He does you know. I discovered how. And with that knowledge, I made this card! It will destroy your Dark Magician Girl utterly, Yugi! She will suffer wracking agony until she is literally pulled apart!" 

Finally Wrack's outlandish appearance made sense. He resembled the Reaper of Cards! He ripped back the cowl of his cloak revealing a face as horrifyingly white and frightening as any death's head of legend or nightmare. 

"Seize her, Rack of Card Destruction!" he played the card. 

"Oh?!" The Dark Magician Girl cried out in surprise as shackles snaked across the field, seeking and capturing her wrists and ankles. She was dragged back across the field until her back was pulled painfully taut across the table of the nefarious device. Two wheels racheted tighter until there was no slack in the chains binding her. Her arms were pulled straight and tight over her head and her legs were held firmly too. 

Unnoticed on the field, Akai was horrified. He knew that Mana despised him, but from his conversations with Mahaad, he understood the reason. She was, as Mahaad had told him, loyal and headstrong. Akai had seen how she was genuinely liked by all the other card monsters of Yugi's deck. He knew Mahaad, for all his stern demeanor, was fond of Mana too. 

Akai thought that perhaps, as time went on, as he dueled more for Yugi, and showed he wasn't a threat to her with Mahaad, her Dark Magic Master, Mana would stop hating him so much and let him become her friend. That was all he wanted...friendly accord with all the card monsters of Yugi's deck. Until he earned her trust, he would always feel a little as if he didn't belong. 

Unlike Mahaad, he wouldn't mind being the focus of her teasing attention. Mahaad said she was like a child. That was true. She had the winsome eagerness of a child. Because of her antics, the Magic Box, while still the restful haven that Mahaad had designed it to be, wasn't just a quiet, boring place as the Graveyard was. 

Bottom line...Akai liked Mana. Despite her animosity toward him, he honestly liked her. He didn't want to see anything bad happen to any of Yugi's cards and that included Mana. It didn't matter how she felt about him. It was how he felt about her that counted. And he would hate himself more fully than Mana ever could if he let this duelist 'Wrack' destroy her utterly. 

"And now my Rack of Card Destruction, take her, the duel monster I hate the most, take her to the Graveyard, and avenge me by giving her wracking torment until you PULL HER APART!" Wrack cried out. 

Mana, trapped in the Rack of Card Destruction, screamed as it tightened. It disappeared, taking her with as it went to complete its gruesome, appointed task in the Graveyard. 

Akai recognized Wrack in that moment. The way his veins stood out on his neck when he shouted, his hatred for the Dark Magician Girl and the pathetic remains of the two Dark Magicians' cards... 

"NO! Arcana, you WILL NOT DO THIS!" Akai cried out. 

It felt like the Ectoplasmer effect. Akai felt that same disruptive, fluid power flow in him. He was dissolving just like that time... 

No...the power wasn't just pooling in him for his duelist to use, it was flowing through him. Then he'd been in a state of fear and hatred, forced to endure the attack of his own master, forced to passively accept what his master was doing to him when his soul was stripped from him and turned into that Ectoplasmer attack on Yugi... 

Now, he still felt fear, but the urge to do something, to somehow protect Mana from the hideous fate Arcana had devised for her, rose to the top. Akai knew he was doing this to himself. He had freed his own soul to be his ultimate expression of everything that he was, of everything that he longed to be... 

"_Is this how it was for Mahaad? I've wondered. I've always wanted to do as he did, take one action that was not called for by my master...is that what I'm doing? How does this help Yugi save Mana? I've got to try!_" 

Yugi's eyes were drawn from the spot where the Rack of Card Destruction had seized his Dark Magician Girl and disappeared to witness his Red Dark Magician inexplicably dissolving before his eyes. The red soul flowed up and a new card shimmered into being in Yugi's hand. 

_Dark Retribution_

_ If your Dark Magician Girl is sent to the Graveyard by the actions of your opponent and you hold this special summon card in your hand, you may sacrifice three monsters from your field or hand to activate it. All Dark Magic users (except for the Dark Magician Girl) in your hand, deck or graveyard are summoned to the field. They are able to act in the turn they were summoned. Additionally, Yami will be auto-cast, if you have the card in your deck. Finally, the Book of Secret Arts, if it is in your deck, will be invoked on the summoned Dark Magic user of your choice._

"I can't let you destroy my Dark Magician Girl! I play Dark Retribution!" Yugi called. He hadn't recognized Arcana at all until Akai had called out the mad illusionist's name. 'Wrack' appeared even more homicidally insane than Arcana ever had. 

"Dark Retribution? I've never heard of this card!" 

"Watch and learn!" Yugi felt panic as he selected his three monsters on the field to serve as the required sacrifice. He'd never seen this card before either! But it had appeared in his hand at the moment he most needed it. He couldn't let Wrack destroy his Dark Magician Girl forever! 

Gaia the Fierce Knight, his Summoned Skull and Neo the Magic Swordsman dissolved and sank into the ground. Nothing happened for the longest moment. Then, surprisingly, a simple shed, perhaps a workshop, rose up from the floor of the Shadow Realm dueling arena. It sat there, inert, almost as if it were gathering energy. The top of it erupted violently spilling Dark Magic power out into the arena. 

Yugi recognized his purple Dark Magician, the Dark Sage, and the Magician of Black Chaos in the aftermath of that potent spill of Dark Magic. After a moment he identified the other duel monsters as the new Blaze, Mirage and Dark Magic Knights, and the Dark Paladin. Two cards incarnated in the spell zone before him. Yami turned up on its own, bringing magic-enhancing darkness into the arena. The Book of Secret Arts turned itself over next and hovered before him. 

Though he was stunned, Yugi realized the card was waiting for him to decide who would be affected by the magic of Secret Arts. 

"The Dark Magician. Give your power to him," Yugi told the Book. Mahaad bowed his head as the power poured into him. He looked up, directly into Yugi's eyes. 

"May we bring the force of Dark Retribution to bear on him?" Mahaad asked Yugi in a low voice. Yugi had some idea what Mahaad was asking. The Dark Magician was the ultimate magic user in terms of attack and defense. Even before the four new cards he received today, Yugi had built his deck to promote the power of Dark Magic. He knew that normally it was restrained, as it was one of the most powerful forces in Duel Monsters. There was no way a deck could normally bring forth the raw Dark Magic power now on the field before him. For him to unleash it...let the Dark Magician free to use that overwhelming power... 

He recalled the scream of his Dark Magician Girl as the Rack of Card Destruction had dragged her to the Graveyard. He ached that Wrack had promised a painfully 'wracking' and final moment for her there. He was horrified by the card confetti that had once been two Dark Magician cards. If what Wrack said was true... Yugi didn't know if it was possible to 'kill' a duel monster forever, but he was not willing to find out. Not with her. Not with any of his cards. Not ever. 

He nodded. "Take him down." 

Mahaad closed his eyes in gratitude. That anyone would attack Mana directly! He didn't know if he could have restrained himself if Yugi had not granted his permission. 

"Chaos," Mahaad called softly. 

"No. You be the focus. We will channel to you," the Magician of Black Chaos countered. 

"With Secret Arts you can take it," the Dark Sage agreed. "Be our instrument of righteous punishment, Mahaad! You are the lash of Dark Retribution!" 

Yugi could only watch in a type of stupefied awe as six of the Dark Magic users, the Dark Sage, Blaze Knight, Mirage Knight, Dark Magic Knight, Dark Paladin and Magician of Black Chaos took positions behind his Dark Magician. 

"You have no duel monsters to defend you," Mahaad turned as he addressed Wrack in a deceptively quiet voice. "That will be your final short-sighted mistake in a string of errors. You never should have made such a terrible card. You never should have used it, ever, much less on cards of the Dark Magician. You never should have used it to attack Mana, my apprentice, the Dark Magician Girl. For that last error on your part, we, the force of Dark Retribution brought forth from Yugi's deck, will make you pay!" Mahaad promised. 

He lifted his staff high above his head. The Dark Magic users behind him sent the fullness of their Dark Magic power into his staff until it glowed black with the mixed colors of their distinctive energies. Mahaad lowered his Dark Magic charged staff and pointed it at Wrack. 

"Do you think I fear that?! Ha! You are just duel monsters! How can you affect me directly?! This isn't just a game where you 'win' when my life points reach zero! There's no spinning disk to worry about here. We're already in the Shadow Realm. What do you think you can do to me?!" Wrack mocked. 

"This isn't just a game," Mahaad agreed. "This is the Shadow Realm. The stakes are always higher here." 

He let the Dark Magic he could barely control free to stab into the mad remnant of a human being raving before him. Wrack screamed as the Dark Magic ripped what remained of his mentality apart. Mahaad realized there was no way Wrack could ever recover from his Dark Magic attack. For what had been done to Mana, he didn't care. 

"There's still time. She survives still!" the Dark Magic Knight urged. 

The Dark Sage, the Dark Paladin, and the Magician of Black Chaos surrounded Mahaad. 

"Save her." 

Yugi watched in uncomprehending horror as three of the Dark Magic users of his deck, acting of their own will, combined their attack, and deliberately sent his Dark Magician to the Graveyard. 

******** 

"Mahaad!" Mana cried out from her painful position chained to the rack. Mahaad could see that the one turn it had taken to send him here had tightened the mechanism one setting, pulling on her arms and legs painfully, stretching her out on the cruel device. 

"I will get you out of there!" he vowed. 

"I know," she replied calmly, though tears streamed down her face. "But hurry!" 

There was no key to release her shackles. There was no keyhole to use a key in anyway. With his mind destroyed, there was no way for Wrack to stop the Rack of Card Destruction even if he wanted to. Mahaad lined up with the chains binding Mana's hands over her head. He shot a powerful Dark Magic attack across the chains, trying to avoid hitting the Dark Magician Girl. His attack was deflected harmlessly into the sky of the Graveyard by the Rack of Card Destruction itself. 

The wheels and gears of the Rack turned, and with a moaning, stressed metal sound, they tightened. Mana screamed as she was stretched across the huge central table of the rack. Mahaad could see that one more turn would literally pull her apart. 

"MA-HAAD!" she screamed in agony. 

Knowing that though she was in wracking agony, just as Wrack intended when he created such a terrible card, nothing could happen until he completed his next action, Mahaad stopped and considered the evil device. He could think of only one way to free her in time. It would be painful, even more painful than the rack itself, but ultimately it would not destroy her. 

He knelt next to the rack and stroked Mana's hair. He could not help but wince at her suffering. 

"Little one, I've figured out how to free you, but it's going to hurt." 

"I...don't care. Please...!" Mana tried to courageously contain her tears. 

"Forgive me!" Mahaad pleaded. He stood up again. He gathered his strength and magic. One strong, powerful blast would be kinder than a feeble, weaker one. He lowered his staff, pointing it right at her. 

"Mahaad?! What?! NO!" 

Mahaad blasted the Dark Magician Girl with the most powerful basic Dark Magic Attack ever witnessed. Mana screamed in agony and disintegrated into glowing purple dust. The Rack of Card Destruction ground down to the final setting, the one that would have pulled the Dark Magician Girl into pieces if she'd still been there. Its terrible task completed, the Rack disappeared. 

A pink, shimmering glow appeared where the Rack of Card Destruction had been. Mahaad dropped his staff and knelt next to the glow. The Dark Magician Girl appeared again, huddled on the ground, crying piteously. 

"I'm so sorry!" Mahaad whispered as he took Mana into his arms. "It was the only way to free you in time!" 

She clung to him, sobbing. "I know!" She finally shuddered. "But it hurts so much!" 

Mahaad rocked her in sympathy, offering her comfort. He wondered at the irony that made the very attack he'd used to gain retribution for what had been done to her the only means of saving her. He worried too at the implications of a card designed to destroy cards in the Graveyard. His Dark Magic attack should not have worked on Mana. He hoped it was only because she had been confined to a card designed to work in the Graveyard, rather than a fundamental change in the rules of the Graveyard itself. 

Putting such portentous pondering aside for another time, Mahaad turned Mana to face him. He smiled gently as he brushed the tears from her lashes. He looked down into her large, suffering eyes for a long moment before placing his hand on her forehead. 

"Let me bear it." he murmured. "You have no need for such a memory!" 

A shudder ran through him as he took the memory of the agony of his attack away from her, taking it into himself. 

She clung to him impulsively in a hug that he would spare her that and endure it himself. He kissed her forehead and pulled her up with him as he stood. 

"Now." Mahaad stooped to reclaim his staff. "Shall we find Akai?" 

Mana made a face. "Why? Why should we look for him?" 

Mahaad turned her and pointed his staff toward a gravestone. The surface of it sprang to life showing Mana not only the Rack of Card Destruction attack on her, but Akai's actions and the awesome power of Dark Retribution. 

"He did that?! Called all of you to the field to save...me?!" 

"Yes. If he is not here, in the Graveyard, I fear Akai is lost forever." 

******** 

"Did you find him?!" Rowan was anxious as Mahaad and Mana appeared in the Magic Box again. 

"He is nowhere to be found!" Mana claimed. Mahaad watched as most of the duel monsters of Yugi's deck congregated around them. Some acted nonchalant, like Everon the Summoned Skull, but most were honest that they were concerned about Akai. 

"I met with the Reaper of the Cards," Mahaad began. "It was when we split up," he told Mana before she could interrupt him. "I know how the Reaper frightens you. He told me that Akai never showed up in the Graveyard." 

"So, where is he?" Celedor the Celtic Guardian asked. 

"He changed his card into the special summoning card, 'Dark Retribution'." Mahaad explained. "Akai, the Red Dark Magician, is no more." 

******** 

"That was..." Yugi fell silent. 

"I've told you that your Dark Magician was my high priest Mahaad in ancient Egypt, right?" Yami asked quietly. Yugi nodded. "Mahaad was the most loyal of all my servants...and one of my closest friends. He would never go against you, but he does have a very highly developed sense of justice...and vengeance." 

"It was frightening to see that," Yugi admitted. "But...beautiful too. How many, Yami? How many of the cards, of my cards, are more than just cards? Akai, he was more than just a duel monster, when I dueled alongside him as the Dark Magician. You are now telling me that Mahaad is the same way? And he called the Dark Magician Girl 'Mana'! What right do I have to duel with any of them, put any of them at risk in play, sacrifice any of them in duels?!" 

"You are their duelist, Yugi. That gives you the right. They duel for you, because they want to. Your heart is in those cards, Yugi. They know that and respond to you." 

Yugi thumbed through the Dark Magic cards until he found the new card, Dark Retribution, again. 

"And Akai? He...did this to himself. He...sacrificed himself to give me this card so I could save..." Yugi placed the Dark Magician Girl card next to Dark Retribution, "...her." 

"I miss him, Yami. I know I could probably never duel next to him as the Dark Magician again...but having done that once...I had a connection with him. He was...a friend. Maybe it's shallow of me, but having dueled with him, I thought that was special and I would remember it always whenever I played his card. Even though he'd have to be 'just' the Red Dark Magician, I would always know he was so much more and I could look and see if I could see my friend in his eyes in a duel, or smile whenever he got to cast Magical Hats...and now...he's gone..." 

Yugi possessed a strength that was mistaken by many for weakness, but this wasn't the first time Yami wished with all his heart that he could somehow wrap Yugi in his arms and make the heartache go away. Yami knew how dangerous it was to Yugi to try to bring him into the labyrinthine tomb of his mind or he'd offer comfort there. 

"Yugi, close your eyes. I want to try something," Yami asked suddenly. Without question, Yugi complied. Yami smiled at that token of trust and accessed the power of the Millennium Puzzle. He used it to enter, not the maze of his own mind, but the corridor between his mind and Yugi's. He knocked politely on the closed door. 

"Yami?!" Yugi opened the door and stared in amazement. 

"The maze of my mind is dangerous to you, but there should be no dangers in your mind for me!" Yami laughed. "May I come in?" 

Yugi stepped aside and allowed Yami to enter. Though much simpler and brighter than his mind, Yami noticed that Yugi had his own shadows too. He wondered if the gloominess reaching from the corners of the Yugi's mind had anything to do with his sorrow over Akai. 

"It does," Yugi answered. 

"What?" 

"Somehow I could tell you were worrying, wondering if what happened to Akai is affecting me. It does," Yugi clarified. He turned up large, lavender eyes welling with tears, knowing that Yami would never belittle him for being weak. 

"Caring as you do isn't weak," Yami told Yugi. "And you are right to feel as you do. In a very real way it is as if you have lost a friend." Yami opened his arms, offering the supporting embrace he'd wished on so many other occasions he could have given Yugi. He was consternated that it had taken him so long to look beyond his own mind enough to realize he could have done this before. Somehow Yugi had always found his way through his pain alone... 

"But I haven't been alone!" Yugi's protest was muffled. He looked up sincerely into Yami's eyes. "You've always been here, so I'm not alone. I don't need your hug to have your support, Yami!" 

Yami blinked down at Yugi then enfolded him again. Not because Yugi needed the hug so much as Yami needed to give it. 

"Your spirit is a source of never-ending strength, Yugi!" 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

With any luck, no one saw the events in this chapter coming! Heh, heh! Please don't worry that this is going to become either a Mana/Mahaad or Yami/Yugi romance either. I just see people offering comfort to people who are suffering, that's all. 

I know that "Dark Retribution" is a seriously unbalancing card that could never exist in the real game of Duel Monsters. It's cool to think about all that Dark Magic power in one place though, isn't it?! ^_~ 

I also know there are other card monsters that should be considered 'Dark Magic users', but there is a reason for why I selected the cards I did! 

Oh, and before anyone decides to come up with the idea of sacrificing their own Dark Magician Girl to call forth the ultimate Dark Magic potential of their deck (Which we know Yugi would _never_ do!) I feel obligated to warn you that there are serious repercussions! If the Dark Magician Girl is sent to the Graveyard by her own duelist to activate Dark Retribution, the summoned forces of Dark Magic attack that selfsame duelist! So don't even think about it, k? 

Next Chapter teaser - (But it would be giving it away!) 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com 


	6. Heartsick

**Chapter Six - Heartsick**

"He hasn't dueled in weeks," Mana stated as she walked up behind Mahaad in the Magic Box. The duel monsters were becoming anxious. They had never been idle for so long! 

"Hmm? Oh, Yugi, I know. He had a special connection to Akai. He's taking what happened very hard," Mahaad replied. 

"He's not the only one," Mana observed. "Most everyone has been quiet ever since..." She trailed off. 

"True. Akai was liked by most everyone," Mahaad replied. Mana looked at Mahaad's carefully neutral expression for a long moment and then walked off. 

"Oh? No smart comment? That's interesting!" Mahaad smiled. 

******** 

"Yugi, what's wrong?" Yami asked suddenly, as Yugi walked home from Joey's house. 

"Wrong?" 

"Joey's pretty easy-going most of the time. He was frustrated with you." 

"I won't duel him," Yugi explained. 

"I know. Yugi, you can't stop dueling," Yami stated. 

"Can't I? How can I duel again?!" He was anguished. "Akai is gone. I almost lost Mana. How many other monsters in my deck have names? How many others are 'real' like your friend Mahaad the Dark Magician is? How can I duel...how can I toy with them that way?!" 

"Yugi..." Yami didn't know how to answer. 

******** 

"Where's Mahaad?" Rowan asked suddenly. Mana stuck her tongue out at the workshop. 

"In there. He's researching something," Mana replied. 

"Do you have any idea what?" Vialla wondered aloud. 

"No, he won't tell me. And he says he will be researching for days. His secrecy about that place is going to make me insane!" Mana complained. 

"I'm sure you will be invited into the atelier one day, Mana," Rowan reassured. 

"I wish I was so certain," Mana replied. "Well, since I won't have Mahaad breathing down my neck to practice Dark Magic for a day or two, shall we find something more interesting to do? I bet Ashelocke would give us a ride on his back if we asked nicely!" 

Vialla shuddered delicately. "I know he'd never hurt us, but he looks so...evil! And his title, 'Curse of Dragon'! What kind of card monster name is that?!" 

"Near as I can figure, he's supposed to be an undead form of dragon. But he's really a sweetheart!" Mana cajoled. "You'd like him once you got to know him, Vialla!" 

The Mystical Elf waved her hand and shook her head. "No, thank you...I'll just wait here until you and Rowan come back." 

******** 

It was as if his name had been called...a strange sensation halfway between an invitation and a summons. He'd never felt it before, but after a moment of quiet thought, he was sure he knew what it meant. Before responding, he looked outward to make certain he would not be needed. Yugi was deeply engrossed in a math test. Knowing that Yugi wouldn't need his help, not that he'd offer it for Yugi's math test anyway, Yami brushed against the power of the Puzzle and answered the call. 

"My pharaoh," Mahaad bowed as Yami appeared in the shadowed main chamber of the labyrinth of his own mind. 

"Mahaad," Yami greeted before reaching and lifting Mahaad to stand in the automatic, unconscious ritual that had developed between them millennia before. "You called me?" 

Mahaad smiled. "Audacious, I know, summoning the pharaoh to me instead of requesting an audience!" 

Yami laughed. "Well, things are different now. It's not as if my audience chamber is as grand as it once was!" he gestured toward the dark walls of his mind. 

"There is grandeur here," Mahaad averred, "but that is not why I asked to speak with you." 

"Direct as always!" 

Mahaad smiled. "How is Yugi? We haven't been in a duel since Dark Retribution was played." 

"Yugi...he is frightened...hmmm...maybe not quite frightened, more concerned. And ridden with guilt." 

"Guilt? Why?" 

"He feels responsible, I think, for what happened to Akai. He misses him. And his eyes have been opened to a possibility that horrifies him," Yami found it easy to openly discussed Yugi's difficulties with Mahaad who was not only his faithful friend, but as the Dark Magician, Yugi's favorite card as well. 

"Horrifies? What possibility is that?" 

"Yugi is concerned that others in his deck are like you and Akai, and he now suspects Mana. That there are others who are much more than simply duel monsters. He feels he has no right to duel any longer and place any of you in peril." 

"So that is it then..." 

"Mahaad?" 

"Yes, my pharaoh?" 

"Are Yugi's fears true? You mentioned something before, about the cards in Yugi's deck being much more than regular duel monsters, when I brought Akai here. How many of his duel monsters are as you are?" 

"As me? Just Mana; that is, a person who has become a duel monster." 

"I think you are being evasive. Let me clarify; how many of Yugi's monsters have personalities and names? How many...are real?" 

Mahaad looked with all seriousness into Yami's eyes. "All of them." 

Yami was shocked. "All?!" 

"From the powerful monsters Celedon the Celtic Guardian, Everon the Summoned Skull and Ashelocke the Curse of Dragon to the more modest Shelleene the Kuriboh...all of Yugi's monsters have names. All are individuals, distinct and separate from all others of their kind." 

"How...?!" 

"I know why myself and Mana are more than simply duel monsters. And I've noticed that the more powerful monsters of other decks, if they are used in many duels, seem to develop some level of personality and will over time. The monsters of Yugi's deck are the only ones that seem to be more than just duel monsters of any of the low level ones I've met." Mahaad cupped his chin thoughtfully. "I suspect Yugi's deck is reacting to Yugi's respect for his cards. Yugi expresses it simply when he says he puts his heart into his cards. The effect might be enhanced by the Millennium Puzzle, but I think that is why Yugi's duel monsters are more than just cards." 

"Your Magic Box realm might have something to do with it too," Yami observed. 

"Perhaps, my pharaoh," Mahaad allowed. 

"So, what can we do?" 

"Do?" 

"To help Yugi. You would never seek me out if you did not have a plan," Yami observed. 

"What I have is more than a notion, but less than a plan. I needed to find out what was happening with Yugi, since he hasn't dueled at all since the duel with Wrack. I am sorry that duel caused him so much pain." 

"The Dark Magician...you know that is the card Yugi identifies the most with. For him to have lost one is bad enough. For the one he lost to have been one with whom he wanted to be a friend...devastates him. And now he fears to duel with any of his cards, for fear of losing or harming others." 

"I see." 

"Mahaad..." Yami looked up into Mahaad's face with vulnerable, troubled eyes. "I don't know how to help him." 

Mahaad placed a hand on Yami's shoulder in a calming gesture of comfort. "Fortunately, I do." 

"Really?!" 

Mahaad nodded. "But I do need your help. The power I have is not enough. Would you set everything in place for me? I will tell you how." 

Yami nodded once. 

"But...is there danger to you in this plan?" Yami asked after listening carefully to Mahaad's instructions. "What are you planning to do? Can you tell me?" 

"There is always danger whenever Millennium Items are used. Please do not forget that I have used such an item myself in the past. I am hoping that experience, along with your permission allowing me to use the Puzzle, will help me and minimize the risk. As for what I plan...please permit me to keep that secret for now, my pharaoh," Mahaad both reassured and pleaded. 

"Losing Akai hit Yugi very hard," Yami observed after a long moment of thought. "You know that losing you would distress Yugi more than I can express. And it would be...most unacceptable to me personally." 

Mahaad bowed again. "I do not plan to sacrifice myself..." 

Yami narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Yet, you have done that very thing before!" 

Mahaad laughed. "Very well. I do not plan to sacrifice myself this time! Even though I do not want to tell you exactly what I wish to do, I think it will help reassure Yugi that all of us, the duel monsters of his deck, do not mind, in fact we are honored, to duel for him." 

Mahaad cupped his chin again. "There is unrest in the Magic Box. Our connection with Yugi is deep enough that we know he is suffering. All of us want to help him." 

"Mahaad..." Yami spoke up suddenly. "Though Yugi met with Akai face to face, and wished with all his heart to become Akai's friend, do not forget that it is YOU who is his favorite card. Not just the Dark Magician, but YOU as the Dark Magician. Are you certain the risk to you is not too great?" 

"I do not want Yugi to have to bear the pain of losing you...as I did, so many years ago," Yami added in a low voice. 

Mahaad looked up at that, into the pain revealed in Yami's eyes. Unable to maintain his neutral detachment, Mahaad stepped forward and embraced Yami. 

"My pharaoh!" 

Yami closed his eyes tight. As the Pharaoh, his actions had been for the good of his people and ultimately for the good of the world. He had given up so much to carry the burden fate laid upon him, culminating ultimately in sacrificing the course of his own life. He had never been as free as Yugi to simply express his friendship with anyone. As the Pharaoh, he commanded and Mahaad had obeyed. That Mahaad's obedience was swift and unquestioning, finally resulting in the sacrifice of his own life, showed that he was not only Yami's most faithful servant, but also his friend. 

Yami was glad that things had changed so much for both of them, that Mahaad was comfortable offering a hug, something he never would have dared with 'Pharaoh' Yami. 

Yami's arms wrapped around Mahaad tight. "I will work with Yugi. I do not want you to accept any level of risk!" 

"It is not just for Yugi. All of us...his cards... The heart of his cards is broken and must be mended." 

"And what you want to do can mend it?" 

"That is my hope." 

Mahaad was witnessing something very few had ever seen before - Yami indecisive and unsure. Mahaad could tell some of what his pharaoh was thinking; Yugi's heartache and fear, what Mahaad had told him about the cards and their sorrow, and his own fear that Mahaad, in trying to make things better with the power of the Millennium Puzzle, might willingly sacrifice himself again for the good of others flashed in Yami's eyes. Mahaad was honored that Yami admitted Mahaad's sacrifice millennia ago had sorrowed him. Mahaad acknowledged in his deepest heart, deep enough that he hoped it escaped Yami's perceptive gaze, that he would do that again, willingly sacrifice himself to ease the heartache that Yugi and his duel monsters were feeling, if he could. 

"I will never forgive you," Yami said in a low, but powerful, voice. Mahaad had to suppress a shiver at the tone. "Yugi would, because that is his way, but I never will, if you sacrifice yourself again as you did so many years ago." 

"You and I have leagued with Osiris and Isis, the gods of death, rebirth and magic to craft our destinies and escape into this present time. Do not forget Set, he who ruins all. If you willingly sacrifice yourself again, Mahaad, I will unseal the Pharaoh's Curse upon you." 

Mahaad did shudder visibly at that. The Pharaoh's Curse was magic more destructive than any found in a Millennium Item or the Shadow Realm. 

"Do we have an understanding?" 

For all his protestations that his reign as 'pharaoh' was over, Yami was as commanding as Mahaad had ever seen him. He nodded. 

"And you still wish to do this; to help Yugi and soothe the heartache of his cards?" 

Mahaad considered. 

"Yes," he answered simply. 

"Then, I will trust you and do as you ask." 

******** 

Mahaad wondered if he would indeed harness the power to do what he wanted. He was staking his very existence upon four separate forces. The first force was his fellow duel monsters in Yugi's deck and their combined heart. Of the four, this was the force he was most certain of. 

"You have all been saddened, just as Yugi has, by what happened to Akai," he began. 

"Mahaad, what happened to Akai? It would be easier for me to accept it if I understood," Vialla, the Mystical Elf asked. 

The question took Mahaad by surprise. He thought his fellow duel monsters had understood what Akai had done! 

"Yeah! All I know is I want to break that Wrack character in half for killin' him!" Everon, the Summoned Skull added. 

"Oh! I hadn't realized that you did not know! I'm sorry, my friends, for not telling you sooner. Akai didn't precisely die...he converted his card, by his own will, into the ritual card 'Dark Retribution'. Every time that card is played, Akai's last act of will is what summons the forces of Dark Magic to the field." 

"So when you blasted Wrack with all that Dark Magic power..." Vialla realized. 

"...it was the power Akai gave you to avenge him!" Everon finished. 

"No. Akai didn't become the ritual of Dark Retribution to punish Wrack, he did it to protect Mana," Mahaad explained. "He didn't see any other way to save her, so he made it so Yugi would have the power to summon all his Dark Magic to the field at once, hoping that combined power could save her." 

"So why..." Mana asked hesitantly. "Why is he no longer here?" She opened her arms to indicate the Magic Box. 

"He converted his card, something no duel monster has ever done before. He changed himself from a monster card into a ritual card and dispersed his soul into the weave of Dark Magic. I have since learned that it is the only way Dark Retribution was able to summon all the forces of Dark Magic as he wished." 

"Oh," Mana's reply was soft. 

"No one blames you!" Rowan touched Mana's arm in reassurance. "We were horrified at what Wrack was trying to do to you! We are glad that Akai was able to save you." Mana looked up into the Magician of Faith's earnest eyes, and then glanced at all of her friends. All nodded their agreement with what Rowan said. 

"What Akai did was by his own choice," Celedon the Celtic Guardian added. "You had nothing to do with what happened to him." 

"But you have something in mind, Mahaad," Celedon turned toward the Dark Magician again. "Otherwise you wouldn't have called all of us here!" 

"All of you can feel that Yugi is heartsick, deeply distressed by what happened. I've spoken with Yami," Mahaad held up one hand forestalling the questions, "I'm just going to say that speaking with him is a Dark Magic thing and not try to explain it!" Several of the more curious duel monsters groaned. "Yami told me that Yugi is not willing to duel any longer for fear of hurting any of you." 

"But...!" 

"That is why we...!" 

"That's absurd!" 

"We are here for him!" 

Mahaad let the gathered duel monsters give voice to their opinions, outrage and ultimate support of their duelist, Yugi.   
  
"We can help him with his fear and heartache," Mahaad interjected. 

"How?!" Everon demanded. 

"It is a high manipulation of Dark Magic." The assembled duel monsters groaned again. "Yes," Mahaad smiled, "so I can't tell you. But you can help me. In fact, I'm relying on your help to help me help Yugi." 

Something furry brushed against his hand. Mahaad looked down to see Shelleene staring up at him with wide eyes. 

"It not much, but I help, Mahaad," Shelleene said softly.   
  
Mahaad knelt to see eye to eye with where the Kuriboh was floating. "It is your heart, not your power that helps me, Shelleene. And your loyalty to Yugi. Given that, you are as strong as anyone here, as strong as me!" Shelleene floated up with happy eyes at that and puffed herself out proudly. 

"I can't let the fuzz-ball out-do me!" Everon put his hand on Shelleene's head and tousled her fur playfully. "You have my support, Mahaad!" 

Mahaad waited as every last monster of Yugi's deck added their comments and support...all without quite knowing what he would do with it, except that he promised it would help Yugi. 

"So, what do we do?" Celedon asked practically. 

"Surround the atelier and will, or wish with all your might, that we are successful in our efforts inside. Fill your minds and hearts with your loyalty and affection for Yugi. I ask for the heart of the cards, not to send a card to the top of the deck for Yugi to play, but to support him directly. We can calm his fears and ease his heartache." 

"Come on, Fuzzy!" Everon scooped Shelleene up in one skeletal hand and placed her on his shoulder. "We'll stand over here!" Everon walked over to stand directly in front of the atelier. The rest of Yugi's monsters spread out in a loose circle around the workshop. Some clasped hands with each other or to their hearts, some gripped their weapons in determine grasps, others stood alone but stared intently at the walls of the atelier. Mahaad could feel the combined will of Yugi's monsters resolving into the heart of the cards that he was relying on. 

"Perfect!" he approved. He turned and walked toward the atelier. His hand was on the latch when he turned and sought out Mana with his gaze. She was standing, eyes closed, holding Rowan's right hand in her left, while clutching her Dark Magic staff to her heart. Vialla held Rowan's other hand. 

"Mana?" 

She looked up, startled. 

"I need your help here," Mahaad stated as he held out his hand. He couldn't help but smile as he finished, "In the atelier." 

"Mahaad?!" Mana squeaked his name. 

"You are ready to enter the atelier, Mana," Mahaad repeated, "and learn all the Dark Magic secrets of Yugi's deck." 

Vialla gasped. Rowan dropped Mana's hand and after a moment, got behind her friend and shoved her toward where Mahaad was patiently waiting. 

Her own hand trembling, Mana took her master's hand and followed him willingly into the Atelier of Dark Magic. 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

Outline? What outline? Mahaad and Yami conspired together and decided to shred my outline this chapter! >_ 

*Sigh!* 

Next Chapter teaser - Chapter Seven - *Yes, there is a Chapter Seven!* 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   



	7. Atelier of Dark Magic

**Chapter Seven - The Atelier of Dark Magic**

"Oh," Mana's tone was faintly disappointed. 

Mahaad's face bore the slightest smile as he escorted Mana thoroughly around the cramped circular room, highlighting the worktable, magic burners, spell components and books in his Dark Magic research area. 

"So..." Mana swallowed her disappointment at the mundaneness of Mahaad's workshop. Mahaad could tell she was wondering what all the fuss and secrecy was about, but he did admit, at least she was trying to hide it. There was a time not too long ago where she would have been vocal in her disappointment and open in her scorn. "What do you need me to do?" Mana squared her shoulders, resolutely determined to help. 

"Well, not fainting on me would be a nice start," Mahaad replied mildly as he reached forward and opened the invisible door that floated in the middle of the workshop. 

Mana's knees did sag as Mahaad led her through that door. 

"Master, where are we?" Mana asked in a low tone. Except for herself and Mahaad, complete blackness met her eyes. 

"This is where our power, the power of Dark Magic, flows the strongest. This is the plane of Dark Magic in Yugi's deck. All of his Dark Magic potential is here," Mahaad explained. 

"So this is what the atelier is all about." 

Mahaad simply smiled. He gestured, shaping the Dark Magic in a way that Mana recognized. 

"You cast Dark Energy," she observed, feeling the increase in her power. "Are you expecting an attack?" 

"No, but I do want to conduct an experiment. Both of us are affected equally by Dark Energy, correct?" Mahaad slipped into his lecture mode. 

Mana nodded. "Right. So our attacks remain in the same relationship with each other, just at a higher level." 

"Correct. But you gain an added bonus simply because I am here, is that not so?" Mahaad pressed. 

"I would in a duel, if certain conditions were met." 

"As far as your bonuses go, you can consider that this Dark Magic pocket dimension functions that way," Mahaad told her. 

"Okay..." Mana wondered what the object of all this was. She knew better than to ask. Mahaad would perversely go off into an esoteric lecture if she showed her impatience. It was better for her to wait until he decided to continue. 

"Allow me to summon an illusionary monster." Mahaad manipulated the raw Dark Magic in a way that Mana had never seen before. A Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon solidified from the darkness. Despite the fact that Mahaad said it was only an illusion, Mana jumped. 

"And now, I will attack it," Mahaad continued. Mana never tired of watching Mahaad, when he was fully in his Dark Magician role, attack something with Dark Magic. He concentrated his force in his staff and sent the Dark Magic screaming toward the Ultimate Dragon. Though it was an impressive and powerful attack, it failed to affect the Dragon. 

"Now, you try," Mahaad directed, lowering his staff. 

"Wha...?" Mana began. Mahaad crossed his arms and focused his most fearsome 'don't give me any back talk' glare on Mana. Shrugging, Mana turned and regarded the Ultimate Dragon. Knowing that it was utterly useless, she concentrated on the power of Dark Magic in her and sent it flowing to her staff as Mahaad had taught her how to do millennia ago. She released the Dark Magic... 

...and sat down hard on her rump from the backlash. The Ultimate Dragon dissolved into thousands of shards as Mana's Dark Magic attack ripped it apart. 

"That was sloppy," Mahaad commented critically as he reached a hand down to assist Mana to her feet. "If you were paying attention, you would have realized the power you have and would not have been taken by surprise like that. I have trained you better, Mana!" 

"What?! How?! Master!" Mana was flabbergasted. "How in the world did I do that?!" 

"Though you've never been in the atelier before, you know the Dark Magic potential of Yugi's deck as well as I. However, you have always been more responsive to visual lessons..." Mahaad gestured again. The darkness fell away. The workshop revealed in the light was much larger and grander than the previous one. It was also populated. Mana blushed that anyone had seen her fall over from the backlash of her own attack. 

"Allow me to present Mana, my apprentice, the Dark Magician Girl," Mahaad bowed to the people in the workshop. Mana dropped into an automatic curtsey at Mahaad's formal introduction and lowered her head politely. 

"You finally decided that the 'little disaster area' was ready to learn about us, eh, Mahaad?" Mana's head snapped up at that. 

"I am not a disaster area!" she protested. "Only Mahaad calls me that!" She lifted her head and stopped in shock at the teasing, kindly eyes that met her gaze. She recognized her master in the older but vibrantly strong visage. 

"Mahaad...?!" She turned to the Dark Magician next to her in confusion, seeking his eyes in her attempt to figure out what was going on. She recognized her master in his face too! 

"Even I do not quite understand it, Mana. But the Dark Sage appears to be...me...aged by a thousand years and much stronger in Dark Magic because of it. Remarkably spry, too, given his advanced years!" Mahaad teased. The Dark Sage just smiled. 

Mana's helmet was tipped playfully to one side. She wheeled, to recognize Mahaad again, in the face of a different Dark Magic duel monster, this time armored as a knight. 

"All of us are versions of the Dark Magician, if the proper ritual is played or special sequence of events occurs," the Dark Magician Knight explained. 

Mana moaned softly and swayed on her feet. The Dark Magician, the Mahaad she had entered this mad place with, wrapped an arm around her shoulders in support. 

"So who...is you?" she asked, looking up into Mahaad's eyes with a deeply confused look on her face. 

"I am. They are...hard to explain. More than ghosts, but not quite separate duel monsters. They only exist in the game if I am changed somehow, by ritual or polymerization into one of them. So they are all me, but separate, because their powers are different. I recall being the Dark Sage, but that level of understanding of Dark Magic, enough to be able to cast two spells per turn, is beyond me unless I'm in a duel and the right cards have been played to turn me into the Dark Sage. Does that help?" 

"No!" she flung herself out of Mahaad's arms frantically. 

"You!" she demanded turning to the Dark Sage again. "Who are you?!" 

The Dark Sage met the Dark Magician's eyes over the Dark Magician Girl's head and smiled before turning his gaze back down to her. 

"Mana, calm down. This is precisely why Mahaad waited so long to bring you here." 

"You call him Mahaad...but you are Mahaad?!" Mana cried out. 

"It really is complicated to try to explain it. I am Mahaad, but only in that moment when the Time Wizard's spell has transformed the Dark Magician into the Dark Sage. My memories are borrowed, except for those times when Mahaad, as the Dark Sage, is in a duel. Those memories are mine. That is who I am, 'Mahaad', but only when he is the Dark Sage." 

"So he is really...Mahaad. That is...my master from so long ago?" Mana pointed a trembling finger at the Dark Magician. 

"Yes." 

"Why...did this happen? How is it that you are here, like this?" 

"We think it is to keep the powers of the variations of the Dark Magician separate, otherwise, Mahaad would remember them all and the Dark Magician would become too powerful for the game." 

"Oh." 

Mana slowly walked around the workshop, pausing and searching out the eyes of each Dark Magic user in turn. Each time she stared for long moments, at an altered, yet still recognizable, humoring, understanding, slightly smiling version of her Dark Magic master. 

"We are pleased that we were able, when Dark Retribution was played, to help Mahaad save you," the Dark Magician Knight noted when Mana had finished her inspection of him. "Not one of us would ever permit the least thing to happen to you, if we are able to prevent it." 

Mana walked up to the Dark Magician, picked up his hand and twined her fingers trustingly with his just as she used to do long ago, when she first became Mahaad's apprentice. 

"I think I understand, Master." She laughed. "Well, as much as such a thing can be understood!" 

"Are you okay with it? This is why I keep the atelier off limits. Such knowledge is very confusing!" Mahaad admitted. 

"I'm okay with it. All of them are you and yet, not quite you, right?" Every head nodded. "It doesn't matter if I understand it completely, right? Everyone here wants to help Yugi in duels, so everyone in here is a friend, right?" Again, the universal nod. "So it's all good!" 

Mahaad smiled at that. "You have grown in understanding, Mana!" he praised. 

"Now...do you see how you had the power to take out my illusory Ultimate Dragon?" 

Mana looked up in startlement and then scanned the room. She thought for a long moment. 

"But...it doesn't add up." 

"She's quick!" the Dark Sage approved. "She's very fast to find the heart of things, isn't she?" 

"Yes, she is," Mahaad agreed. 

"I don't gain a higher bonus from the Dark Sage or Magician of Black Chaos, do I, Mahaad?" Mana asked him. 

"No. Each Dark Magic user gives you the same bonus. And, before you can ask, no, you don't gain any special bonuses here in the atelier either, other than the Dark Energy spell I cast." 

"There is a missing Dark Magic user, then," Mana stated flatly. "Even with the power of Dark Energy, for me to be able to destroy an Ultimate Dragon, I would need the help of seven Dark Magic users. Oh!" 

"Yes, 'Oh!'" Mahaad smiled. 

******** 

Yami wondered what Mahaad planned. He knew his friend. Though Mahaad had told him it wasn't quite a plan, Yami knew whatever it was must be fairly advanced for Mahaad to give him such specific instructions. That Mahaad wouldn't tell him what it was worried at him. Mahaad had proven once before that he would willingly sacrifice himself. What Mahaad didn't properly understand is just how destructive such a sacrifice would be to Yugi. It might be a blow that Yugi could never recover from, driving his psyche to hide forever in the bright room of his own mind, never to come forth and face the pain of the world again. Yami admitted that to lose Mahaad now, after finding him again so unexpectedly, would be a blow to him too. He hoped Mahaad knew what he was doing. 

_ "Pull out the Dark Magic cards of Yugi's deck and set them to one side. That would be my card - the Dark Magician, the Dark Magician Girl, the Dark Sage, the Blaze Knight, the Mirage Knight, the Dark Magic Knight, the Magician of Black Chaos and...Dark Retribution."_

_ "Place the Millennium Puzzle in the Magic Box so that it stands on its point on the bottom of the box. It will want to tip over. Place all but the Dark Magic cards of Yugi's deck in the box so that they support one side of the Puzzle."_

Not wanting Yugi to assume any feelings of responsibility if this failed, Yami had asked him to remain in his 'room' until Yami 'called' for him. If blame was to be assigned, Yami would accept it all. He thumbed through the cards, pulling out the ones Mahaad had specified. 

He slid the chain of the Millennium Puzzle over his head and opened the Magic Box. Yugi had always used it as a place to store his cards even before Mahaad had told them it was a special receptacle for his magic. Yami worried that placing the power of the Millennium Puzzle, completed as it now was, into the Magic Box might be more magic than even Mahaad could handle. 

******** 

"How do we help Yugi?" Mana asked. 

"You suspect that there is a Dark Magic user here that you can't see helping to increase your power, right?" Mahaad asked in reply. 

Mana nodded firmly. "There is no way, even with Dark Energy, that I could take out an Ultimate Dragon without the help of seven Dark Magic users." She scanned the room again. "And there are only six." 

"So, go around the workshop and determine the magic of each Dark Magic user so you can eliminate it from the pool of Dark Magic helping you. Once you do that you can..." 

"Isolate the one I can't see!" Mana finished excitedly. "Mahaad! Do you think...?!" 

Mahaad nodded once. "That is my hope, and the hope of everyone here. I did not want to say anything definite outside, in case I was wrong, but once you were able to destroy the Ultimate Dragon, I knew that what I suspected was true." 

"I might be able to pinpoint the Dark Magic energy helping me, but then..." Mana began. 

"One step at a time, Mana. The chain is building slowly. The first link, the heart of Yugi's cards, the will of our fellow Duel Monsters for us to succeed, is with us. The next link is yours, isolating the energy." 

"But, Master... The Dark Magician doesn't have enough power to..." Mana protested. 

"I've set it in motion, Mana. I will have the power needed, when the time comes. Or I should say...you will." 

"Me?!" 

"You are the Dark Magic user who gains power from other Dark Magic users. Only you are able to isolate the energy we seek. And do not forget, it was the peril you were in that inspired such a drastic change." 

"Yes..." Mana dropped her head contritely. 

"None of that now!" Mahaad placed his hand under her chin and lifted it firmly. "You did not ask for or demand what happened. What was done was by his own free will. Be the exasperating, arrogant, 'everything will be okay because I say so', annoyance you are so practiced at, Mana! For this to work, you must believe in yourself." 

Mana made a face at the insulting way Mahaad had phrased his command, even as she heeded it. "Everyone is counting on me?" 

Mahaad nodded. "And I know that trust is not misplaced." 

Mana locked her troubled eyes on Mahaad's calm, blue ones, reading the truth of his conviction. She lifted her chin on her own, grinned up at him and twirled around to dash over to the Dark Sage. Mahaad smiled at her girlish antics, knowing full well that despite appearances, she was deadly serious. 

Mana visited each Dark Magic user in turn, sensing the flavor of the Dark Magic each supported her with so she could eliminate it as the one she sought. She stood before Mahaad last, to eliminate the simple, familiar 'Dark Magician' Dark Magic boost she gained from him. 

"Can this really work?" she asked, touching Mahaad's hand to sense the subtle power of his Dark Magic more completely. 

"Sweet Mana, you have the heart of the cards, the Dark Magic of Yugi's deck, all of my magic and..." Mahaad inclined his head toward the center of the workroom where a new power was taking form, "...the power of the Millennium Puzzle supporting you." 

"The Puzzle?!" Mana gasped. 

"I told you I set things in motion. Now..." 

******** 

_ "Place all the Dark Magic cards except for mine, the Dark Magician Girl and Dark Retribution to balance the other side of the Puzzle."_

Yami carefully balanced the upside-down Millennium Puzzle between the bulk of Yugi's deck on one side, and the five Dark Magic cards on the opposite face, and wondered if what he was doing would help Yugi...or do him more harm than good. 

******** 

Mana gasped as she turned and saw that the Millennium Puzzle was indeed here. Strangely, it was inverted. It stood unsupported, balancing on the tip of its apex, turning its four-sided flat bottom up making it appear almost like a giant golden table. The loop which allowed it to be worn, was nowhere to be seen. 

"How?!" she breathed in wonder. 

"I asked Yami to place the Millennium Puzzle in the Magic Box. I will use it to channel and focus all the powers needed to help you," Mahaad told her. 

"Master...!" 

"Do not worry, Mana!" The rest of the Dark Magic users, almost as one, walked over to one side and stood along one edge of the giant Puzzle table. "Yami is setting everything in place as I asked." Mahaad noted with satisfaction. 

"What happens next?" Mana asked. 

"The heart of the cards supports one side, the Dark Magic of Yugi's deck the other. We should..." Mahaad interrupted himself. "There! Do you feel it?" 

******** 

_ "Place my card, the Dark Magician, and Mana's card, the Dark Magician Girl, opposite each other on the last two sides."_

Yami worried again at the wisdom of this plan. He wondered if Mahaad was wise to attempt to channel the power of a Millennium Item again, especially now, as he was only a Duel Monster. 

******** 

Mana felt she should walk up to the glowing golden table and place her hands down just touching the flat surface. Mahaad mirrored her actions on the opposite side. 

"All but one of the elements are now in position," Mahaad told Mana, looking across the expanse of the Puzzle into her eyes. His eyes suddenly crinkled in a smile. "Can you guess what that last element is?" 

She shook her head, stunned by the power she was sensing before her. She wasn't sure if it was in the Puzzle or in her Master. She wondered what Mahaad expected her to do with so much power. 

******** 

_ "Finally, even though the top loop is in the way, place the Dark Retribution card on top of the Puzzle. It doesn't have to cover the entire top, but make certain it is laying flat."_

******** 

A giant card shimmered and appeared on the table before her. It almost completely covered the top of the Puzzle table. 

_ If your Dark Magician Girl is sent to the Graveyard..._

"It's Akai's ritual!" Mana gasped. "But it's so huge!" 

"Merely a side effect of the crafting of a sympathetic magic spell. It is why we are now here," Mahaad told her. "Now, Mana, the seventh Dark Magic user's energy...do you still sense it?" 

"Yes..." 

"Draw it to you. Do not passively accept the power it offers, but pull it entirely from the weave of Dark Magic," Mahaad commanded. "I will pull the rest of the Dark Magic away from you." 

Mana closed her eyes and reached, with all that she was, with her very soul, toward the Dark Magic that was not any of those in the room with her. She felt as Dark Magic flowed away from her, making it easier for her to focus on the particular Dark Magic she sought. 

"Mahaad!" Mana gasped. "I'm...not...strong...enough!" 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

This story is a runaway! Yami and Mahaad have completely taken control away from me. (I was going to end it at six chapters.) Yugi's about to assert himself, though, as after all, he _is_ the main character of Yu-Gi-Oh! 

Next Chapter teaser - Chapter Eight - *Unexpected results from casting the spell!* 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com 


	8. Reception and Exile

**Chapter Eight - Reception and Exile**

There was a knock on the door. He bounded over to answer it; he was kinda bored anyway. 

"Yugi," Yami greeted politely, standing in the corridor between their minds. "May I come in?" 

"Of course!" Yugi smiled up at the one who was had become something of an alter ego to him. "What's going on? I know something is happening, even though, I promise, I haven't peeked!" 

"I know, Yugi," Yami smiled down on him. "You are right though, there is something happening, something important. Your cards are concerned about you, Yugi. They are trying to help you somehow, but I fear, it is dangerous." 

"Dangerous?! Wha...what's going on?" 

"Mahaad asked me to grant him the use of the Millennium Puzzle to help you. Normally, I would have discussed such an important request with you..." 

"Oh, no! The Puzzle?! But...he might be hurt!" Yugi was dismayed. 

"Mahaad used the Millennium Ring thousands of years ago in Egypt. I am pretty certain he knows what he is doing," Yami reassured. 

"'Pretty certain' isn't good enough, Yami!" Yugi squared his shoulders as he faced his 'stronger' alter ego. "Not by a long shot! Tell me what is going on!" 

******** 

Yugi surged forward, out of his room, down through the corridor and out, taking control from Yami with a strength of will that left Yami astonished. 

"Yugi?!" 

"The Millennium Puzzle is strong, Yami. You and I are the ones who have used it the most...so we would know. I don't want him to...I'll never get to meet 'my' Dark Magician, so I'll never get to meet Mahaad, but my connection with him is even deeper than the one with Akai. It doesn't make too much sense I know, but whenever I am in a duel and things are going wrong, I know that if I just get his card...somehow it will all work out all right. Even if he isn't the best card, just knowing that he's in my deck gives me strength. Does that make any sense?" Yugi paused. "I rely on him." 

"But I think he knows that. And maybe he's trying too hard because he doesn't want to let me down. Well, I don't want to let him down either. And we know the Puzzle the best...so..." 

Yugi brought his hand down and touched the loop of the Puzzle where it rose out of the box. A terrific surge of Millennium energy discharged through him and he knew no more. 

******** 

"Where...? Where are we?" Yugi stammered, accepting the hand Yami extended so he could stand. "We're...outside...?" Yugi guessed, seeing that they were in a forest. 

"No, not outside. Not in our own mind space either," Yami noted. "I'm not sure where we are." 

"How did we get here?" 

Yami tossed Yugi a very sour look. "A certain reckless, deceptively stubborn, big-hearted boy, I am sure! Come on, Yugi. Let's figure out where we are." 

Yami turned and walked toward an area in the forest where the light seemed brighter, hoping it led toward a clearing. Yugi followed meekly. 

"You...you aren't mad at me, are you, Yami?" he asked hesitantly. 

"Mad?" Yami stopped and turned. "No. Concerned for our safety? Yes. That was a foolhardy thing to do. We have no idea what happened!" 

"It just seemed...right..." Yugi hung his head. Yami took two steps toward him and put his hand on Yugi's shoulder. 

"Then it probably was. You have a way of making things work out, I've noticed." 

******** 

Shelleene turned and watched as two monsters walked up out of the forest. She was slightly surprised; she thought that all monsters would already be here having answered Mahaad's summons, but no matter. Whoever they were, they were here now and they certainly would help! 

Wait! Those weren't monsters! They were...! 

"Yugi!" she called out happily! "Yugi! Yugi!" 

"Yes, we are doing this to help Yugi. Now, hush!" Everon the Summoned Skull ordered. 

"Yugi, Yugi, Yugi!" 

"My little Kuriboh!" Yugi exclaimed, walking toward her. "How did it get here, Yami?!" He reached out to pet the overjoyed creature. His hand passed right through her. 

"I see," Yami realized. "We are in the Magic Box, the dimension Mahaad created for the cards of your deck!" 

"Yugi?" the Kuriboh wondered before Yugi could respond to Yami's revelation. 

"Shelleene," the Summoned Skull sighed as he uncrossed his arms, bent at the waist and reached down toward her, "Yes, we are trying to help Yugi, by focusing our will, the Heart of his Cards, for Mahaad to use. But that is much easier for most of us if you try more quietly!" 

The Summoned Skull placed Shelleene on his massive shoulder again, stroking along her greenish fur with a gentle touch to keep her quiet. 

"Yugi...I try!" Shelleene looked right into Yugi's eyes with determination. "I try hard!" She turned to stare at the atelier and quivered with how hard she was trying to help. 

"I see," Yami said again. 

Yugi looked from the odd tableau of his Kuriboh resting on his Summoned Skull's shoulder, then around the area at the other groups of quiet duel monsters whose attention was focused on the small workshop in front of them. He shrugged his shoulders. 

"I don't get it. What's going on?" he asked. "We're in the Magic Box?! You told me about it...but how did we get here?!" 

"I don't understand all of it, but Mahaad is using the Millennium Puzzle and the Heart of your Cards for something. That's a considerable amount of power! When you touched the Puzzle, you brought us here, undoubtedly because all your cards are thinking about helping you." Yami cupped his chin in thought. "Now why would Mahaad try to combine two such powerful forces together?" 

It was veiled, but Yugi could sense Yami's worry. 

"Maybe my rash action brought us here for a reason. Maybe we can help?" Yugi asked. 

"Maybe," Yami allowed with a smirk. "Do you feel the energy concentrated in that structure?" Yugi nodded. "Let's see what's inside, shall we?" 

"Yeah..." Yugi agreed absently. "Yami...why can't the Summoned Skull see us? What's going on with that?" 

"Oh...you and I aren't duel monsters, so we really have no right to be here. I guess we are invisible, since your hand passed right through your Kuriboh." 

"But it...she saw us?" 

Yami placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "You've always had a soft spot for the weak little Kuriboh." Yugi bristled. "See? It could be she is just low power enough that seeing us doesn't upset her like it would a 'greater' monster. Basically, she's simple enough to see things as they really are. So she can see us." 

"Come on. I'm curious what's going on in there!" 

******** 

"Mahaad!" Mana gasped. "I'm...not...strong...enough!" 

"What...what are they doing?!" Yugi demanded. 

Yami didn't answer him. He walked around the giant table that the Millennium Puzzle appeared to be instead. He turned and looked at the high Dark Magic users, then into Mahaad's face. He sighed. 

"They are trying to help you as only they can," Yami finally answered. "Hmmm." 

"I think this might work if you try to help Mana...the Dark Magician Girl and I assist Mahaad," Yami suggested. 

"Help her? How?" Yugi asked, walking toward his Dark Magician Girl. Her face was scrunched up in concentration. It seemed best to reach out and touch her shoulder, or try to, to offer comfort. 

"Yugi?!" she gasped as she turned at his touch. 

"What?" Mahaad asked. 

"Yugi! It's Yugi, I can see him!" 

"Really? You can see me?" Yugi exclaimed. "And I can touch...you are solid!" 

"What are you talking about Mana? Maybe this is beyond your skills, if you are hallucinating..." Mahaad cupped his chin. Yami looked across the Puzzle and grinned into Yugi's eyes, before bringing his hand up deliberately to touch Mahaad's elbow. 

"My pharaoh!" Mahaad was stunned, then narrowed his eyes. 

"Ah...so somehow you are here. Yugi is going to help Mana and you are going to help me." 

Yami nodded. "Since I seem to be surrounded by headstrong overconfidence, yes." 

Mahaad laughed. "Just like old times, yes? Well then, have you figured out what we are trying to do?" 

"Using the power of the Heart of the Cards and the Millennium Puzzle to manipulate the force of Dark Magic? Yes. And the purpose too. But it is dangerous for you to channel the Millennium energy, Mahaad." 

"Necessary though, if this is to work. But if Yugi helps Mana and you help me..." 

"I think...that's why we are here." 

"The Heart of the Cards is strong, but it's hard for them to maintain their concentration for long..." 

"Yes. Let us try." 

Yugi reached out and took Mana's hand. "Yami is going to help Mahaad and I'm going to do my best to help you...Mana." 

She blushed. "You...you know my name?!" 

"I never realized that all of you had names until recently," Yugi explained. 

"You know my name!" Mana's eyes were bright and happy. 

"Mana! Focus your attention on the matter at hand!" Mahaad commanded sternly. 

"I'll help!" Yugi declared as he turned toward the Millennium Puzzle again. His eyes widened as he noticed the giant Dark Retribution card on top of it. 

Mana closed her eyes. After a moment, Yugi did too. He could almost see the tremendous power that Mahaad and Yami were shaping, he could almost feel the will, the Heart of his Cards flowing toward Mana. He tried to filter that power, and whatever feeble personal power he might hold too, and send it to Mana through their clasped hands. 

She reached, softly, delicately into the Dark Magic all around them with her own Dark Magic skills, sifting, searching, seeking one particular touch... 

"Where...?" 

Yugi opened his eyes at the sound of a new voice. 

"Akai! I found you!" Mana's voice was elated. 

"Why?" Akai seemed faint, ghostly as he hovered above the Dark Retribution card. "It took me a while, but I found the best way for me to help Yugi's deck. And not distress anyone. Let me go." 

Mana stamped her foot impatiently. "How often do you think such a situation is likely to happen?! Dark Retribution is powerful, maybe too powerful. Yugi would never be able to use it!" 

"That's okay. I still know that I help him, just because he has the card. Even if he never plays it again," Akai admitted as he crossed his arms and placed his Dark Magic staff in a defensive position unconsciously against his own words. 

Yugi could tell now why it was so important that he be here. He knew why his heart, not the heart of his cards, but his own heart, had led him here. 

"Tell me what it is like, Akai. I see how it is for the duel monsters of my deck here in the Magic Box. How is it for a ritual?" Yugi demanded. 

"I...exist." 

"And...?" 

"That is all. Until Mana called me...I just was." 

"Simply a state of being, with no will, no name, no motivation, no curiosity, nothing?" Mahaad asked. Akai nodded uncomfortably once. 

"How terrible!" Mana exclaimed. "Surely there is a way for you to return to us!" 

Akai looked down at the Puzzle, then into Mana's eyes. "But you are so distressed by me." 

"Don't be stupid!" Mana snapped. "Mahaad is the Dark Magician of Yugi's deck...but..." 

"There's room for more than one!" Yugi exclaimed. "Mahaad's card is still my favorite, the one I identify with the most, but I can have more than one Dark Magician!" 

"See?!" Mana looked up at Akai again. "Our duelist wants you as a monster card! Certainly you must follow his will...as must I," she realized softly. "And I must accept you, too." 

"I'm still gonna tease you, ya know," she warned. "But I'd rather have you as a duel monster I can tease, than as a static ritual too," she admitted softly. "And Mahaad has missed you terribly. Actually, all of the cards have. So please, Akai...return to us." 

Mana held out her free hand. Still clasping hands with his Dark Magician Girl, Yugi offered his free hand too. 

Akai looked down into the two earnest faces turned up toward him. He turned to look into Mahaad's eyes and smiled at Mahaad's nod. 

"Well, then...if you are sure..." 

Akai dropped his ghostly Dark Magic staff and reached toward Mana's and Yugi's outstretched hands. Though his substance was thin, he was able to take them. 

"NOW!" Mahaad called. Yami and Mahaad strained to send the utmost of the powers they held in check, the Heart of Yugi's Cards, the power of the Millennium Puzzle, the totality of Dark Magic in Yugi's deck and the undefined power that Mahaad held personally to Mana and Yugi. 

The atelier shuddered and shook from the violent, barely-controlled force. 

Mana and Yugi accepted that power and used it... 

Used the power to finally pull Akai free of the weave of Dark Magic to fully incarnate as a duel monster again. Akai tumbled from the air and fell, taking Mana and Yugi to the ground with him. 

The Dark Retribution card flashed, becoming Akai's Dark Magician card once more. 

Mahaad's smile that they had succeeded disappeared. 

"Oh, dear!" he exclaimed as he stumbled. 

"Mahaad!" Yami reached out to catch him, only to have Mahaad fade inexplicably away before he could touch him. 

"MAHAAD!" 

Both Yami and Yugi abruptly disappeared from the atelier. 

******** 

The Magic Box discharged a concessive blast. Yugi's hand, lightly touching the loop of the Millennium Puzzle where it rested in the Box, was flung so violently away that Yugi rolled across the floor until the wall stopped him. He didn't know how much time passed before he woke up again. 

"What...what happened?!" 

Yugi shook his head as he got up and walked back to the Magic Box. He was hesitant about touching the Puzzle again, but nothing happened when he finally found the courage. 

He took the Puzzle out of the Box and placed it around his neck again. The Red Dark Magician's card fluttered to the tabletop. Yugi picked it up. 

"It worked!" He noted internally. 

"Yes, your cards care for you very much, Yugi," Yami's reply came. 

"What's this?!" Something felt odd about the card. Yugi realized that another card was clinging to it. A firm rub separated the cards. 

"No way!" 

"What is it, Yugi?!" 

"It's...Dark Retribution! I thought...Akai..." 

"May I?" Yami surged forward, pulling the rest of Yugi's deck from the Magic Box. He thumbed through the deck swiftly, then again more slowly, looking closely at some of the pictures. 

"It is as I feared," Yami sighed heavily. 

"What is?" 

"Your purple Dark Magician...Mahaad, is gone." 

"No!" Yugi ran his deck between his hands again and finally spotted what Yami had seen. The Dark Sage wore red robes and resembled an older Akai in the picture on the card now. All of his high Dark Magic users were 'Red' now. Mahaad's card, that of the Purple Dark Magician, was indeed missing. 

"Yami?!" 

"I will never forgive him!" Yami vowed with frightening intensity. "Never!" 

"Yami...?" 

******** 

"What...happened?!" Mana asked as Akai helped her to her feet. "Where did everyone go?" 

"I don't know," Akai replied. 

"You should go," a new voice commanded. "This place won't be able to sustain you much longer." 

Akai looked up into his own eyes. The Dark Sage stood before him. "Mahaad's magic is gone. We won't be able to maintain the inner atelier as a physical place and you and Mana are too weak right now to help." 

"Why do you now...look like me?!" 

"You are the only Dark Magician in the deck. We will look like you, you will become one of us, when one of our cards is played in a duel." 

"What?!" 

"You must go, or risk being exiled with us. Once you and Mana recover enough strength, you'll be able to summon the inner atelier again. By then, we might have better answers for you." 

"I see." 

The Dark Sage nodded, understanding that Akai did comprehend. 

"We will research Dark Magic and try to figure out what happened to Mahaad. You...you and Mana should make sure that the rest of Yugi's duel monsters are okay. Everyone relies on Mahaad, perhaps a bit too much. His disappearance will be distressing to them. Now, go!" 

Akai caught Mana's hand and fled the inner atelier that even now was starting to disappear. He dashed with her through the basic room, Mahaad's false workshop, and out into the clearing where all of Yugi's duel monsters stood with open-mouthed wonder at his sudden appearance. 

"Mana!" 

"Akai!" 

"You're back!" 

"It worked!" 

"That's what we were doing?!" 

The atelier shimmered and disappeared. 

All the duel monsters fell silent. Not one could recall a time when the modest workshop didn't stand in the center of the Magic Box. 

"Where's Mahaad?" 

"Mahaad!" 

"He's gone!" 

"What happened?!" 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

I admit I have only the merest idea what's gonna happen next. I need to find less strong-willed characters to write about! Ones that know how to follow an author's outline! *Mad kitty face!* 

Next Chapter teaser - Chapter Nine - Akai is back (Yay!) but now Mahaad is missing (Sob!) Perhaps Yugi's deck can sustain only one Dark Magician at a time?! 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   



	9. Mourning

**Chapter Nine - Mourning**

He felt unsettled. It was too still, almost the stillness of the air before a thunderstorm, filled with expectant, cringing waiting. Even now, he wasn't certain what had happened. Mahaad, the Dark Magician, his favorite card, had somehow combined three powerful Duel Monster forces to bring Akai, the Red Dark Magician back and somehow... 

...lost himself, or worse, in the process. 

He could almost feel the unrest of his cards at that. The impact was so deep that he himself hadn't quite assimilated it. Mahaad...gone. The two words, the two concepts wouldn't go together, not matter how many times he repeated it in his mind. Mahaad...gone. 

He'd still be able to duel. He even had a better understanding of the heart of his cards. He possessed a Dark Magician card, Akai's, so to the dueling world at large it would be as if there was no change. He'd still confound his opponents with the powerful, versatile Dark Magician; using the power of the Magical Hats, the Magic Box of Death, and other magic cards, not to mention the Dark Magician's own powerful Dark Magic attack in his duels. 

Why then, did he feel like crying? 

Mahaad...gone. 

Purple. He'd miss the purple. No, it went deeper than just the color. Mahaad had enough power, or maybe, ignored the rules just enough to be...different, on the field. Yugi still remembered Mahaad shaking his finger in reproach at Kaiba on the barbican of Pegasus' castle. And turning an exultant flip in the air when Yugi's game play had brought the Dark Magician into an advantageous position in the Para and Dox duel before that. And, most astonishingly of all, sacrificing himself of his own free will to protect Yugi directly from Arcana's Dark Magician's attack in that important duel. 

The Dark Magician was Yugi's favorite card. But Mahaad was a person Yugi would have liked to consider a friend. That was the root of his sadness. 

However, this unsettled feeling... It held more power than his distress. It contained destruction as well as sorrow. If he felt like abjectly weeping because he had lost his favorite card and had only recently realized that a real person by the name of 'Mahaad' was that favorite card, how much deeper was Yami's loss? Yami had called Mahaad 'friend' millennia ago and that friendship existed into the modern day. 

Yugi raised his hand to knock on the closed door in the corridor between their minds. 

******** 

He could sense the dismay all around him. It beat at and battered him, forcing him to realize how much he had hurt those he loved. 

His friends, his fellow cards...he could feel their sorrow faintly, as if the heart of the cards reached toward him still. He was no longer a part of it - he could tell that the cards he'd left behind had no knowledge of what had happened to him when he was forced to abandon the matter of his form. Truth be told, even he was still surprised by what had happened. It was most unexpected! 

He did feel some relief about them, though. The Magic Box still existed. He could tell that from the slight magical drain he felt sustaining it. Another's steady magic seemed to bolster his, taking some of that strain and shouldering it with him. Over time, no matter what ultimately happened to him, this new magic would become strong enough to maintain the Magic Box for his fellow cards. He was happy about that. They would still have a place, not just the Graveyard, where they could simply...be. 

The raw edges of grief brushed against his questing mind. More immediate than the cards' gentle sorrow, this was the flavor of his master's distress. His player...Yugi, mourned for him. 

He was a bit startled at the depth of Yugi's grief for him. He had always known that his card was Yugi's favorite, but he'd never realized that it was HE, as Yugi's favorite card, that Yugi liked so much. Yugi did like Akai, the Red Dark Magician, but he was able to sense that Akai would never quite take his place in Yugi's mind or heart. 

Just as he wished he could somehow reassure his fellow cards, he wished he could lay comfort there too...in his player's mind. He was closer than Yugi realized, but he was powerless. He was trapped, as a fly in amber, locked again in the form he had willingly taken once before, thousands of years ago. 

_ "I am your loyal servant forever."_

He'd uttered those words once, with all of his magic and will, with his very soul, pledging his undying loyalty to... 

...his Pharaoh. 

The bright soul who refused to believe in his own brightness. He could sense that soul reaching toward the dark power within itself...the power that should be left forever sleeping. He knew that his friend, Yami, would be able to focus that dark power, bend it to do his will and survive, but the brightness that was his, that Yami didn't believe he possessed, would be forever stained by that act. Even Yugi might not be able to save Yami from the path of destruction that dark act would set him on. 

And he, Mahaad - if Yami unleashed that dark power upon him, would be utterly destroyed by his dearest friend. 

******** 

"Go away!" The command was cold and firm. Yugi could tell that no amount of talk or reason would open the door. 

So he did what he'd never dared before, placing his hand upon the door and forcing it open. 

As always, Yami's mind showed the solemn, dark interior of an Egyptian crypt. Deep shadows obscured the details of all but the nearest things. Portentous carvings crawled across the walls. The patterns on the floor made Yugi cautious about where he placed his feet, lest he should trigger a trap. Not for the first time, Yugi thought that Yami's mind could be a fun place to explore, before reminding himself that his other soul's mind held secrets that even Yami was unaware of. Yugi bet those secrets carried danger too. 

Yami's mind put him even more in the mind of ancient Egypt than usual. Sarcophagi flanked the doorway he was slowly and carefully making his way toward. Golden light spilled from the room beyond the doorway. Yugi was certain that Yami would be here. He peeked his head around the archway. 

Yami's slanted purple eyes slid over at Yugi's intrusion and narrowed in displeasure. Yugi gulped. He'd never seen Yami like this! 

"You approach unbidden. What do you want?" Yami demanded imperiously. Along with his attitude, his very appearance had changed. Yami wore gold...everywhere. A winged circlet centering the Millennium eye on his forehead was the most obvious, but Yami wore ankhs dangling from his ears, burnished cuffs on his arms and what almost appeared as golden greaves on his legs. A cloak draped about his shoulders. Yami always appeared taller that Yugi, but with how straight he was standing, he loomed over Yugi now. Yugi gulped. 

"I...I...thought..." 

"If your presence were required, I would have let you in when you asked at the door. It is best if you leave," Yami noted, turning a shoulder away from Yugi as if he were merely an annoyance. 

"Y,Yami...!" 

"Pharaoh," Yami corrected Yugi coldly. "I am the Pharaoh." 

"W,Why?" Yugi stammered. 

Yami spread his hands looking down briefly at the gold cuffs that were part of his 'Pharaoh' attire. "I have to be in order to access the magic I wish to cast." 

Yugi, in a lightning flash of thought, realized what this meant. Yami had been the Pharaoh in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians had complex understandings of death, life and rebirth. 

"You can bring him back?!" Yugi smiled tremulously toward Yami. 

Yami blinked down at Yugi. "No, if I could do that..." For a moment 'Pharaoh' Yami's expression looked like one of Yami's more kindly ones. His aspect hardened again. "If I could do that I would not have thought for so long before making my decision. No, for disobeying my wishes, I am going to cast the Pharaoh's Curse on Mahaad." 

"The Pharaoh's Curse?! I don't know what it does, but it sounds bad!" 

"The Pharaoh's Curse will seek out Mahaad's eternal soul and force him to wander in unrest for all eternity," Yami told him. 

"What?! No!" 

Pharaoh Yami's eyes narrow dangerously. 

"Leave. You should go!" He turned fully from Yugi this time, the cloak he wore flicking in a final dismissal. 

******** 

Everon, Yugi's fearsome Summoned Skull, turned in a slow circle on his heel, and looked around the different environments of the Magic Box. His gaze fell upon several of his fellow Duel Monsters training, conversing, sparring...all the normal activities of the Magic Box save one. No one was simply playing. 

They had been shocked, dismayed, panicked even, when the atelier disappeared. All of them had secretly thought that Mahaad would mysteriously show up, half-explain something mystical about Dark Magic, wave his hands, restore the atelier and seclude himself inside as he normally did, doing something...magical. That it was all something...magical and nothing to worry about, since Mahaad was here. 

But...enough time had passed, and Akai's and Mana's attitudes were so sorrowfully serious, that they realized...Mahaad wasn't coming back. Ever. So, no one played any more. 

Everon did have to give both Akai and Mana full credit though as they walked across his field of vision, engrossed in a deep discussion. They had put aside whatever differences they had and pulled together, ably stepping into Mahaad's responsibilities. If only everyone were not so sad! 

He examined his own sadness. Honestly, the Dark Magician was just another monster as far as the Summoned Skull was concerned. They were about equals in terms of power, though the Dark Magician had the slight edge of his various spells and tricks. In out-and-out combat, Everon felt that the Summoned Skull could probably trounce the Dark Magician. 

But, he was more than just the Summoned Skull. And Mahaad was more than the Dark Magician. Though there seemed to be no reason for it, they were friends. Everon missed his friend. 

His gaze traveled over his fellow Duel Monsters again. That loss, missing a friend, is why no one felt like playing. The Magic Box was in mourning. 

Something bumped into the back of his head. He reached back to feel what it was and filled his hand with fluff before bringing it around in front of his face again. 

"Coo?" Shelleene blinked up at him with her enormous eyes. Despite himself, Everon smiled. 

******** 

"I won't! I won't go until you promise you won't curse Mahaad!" Yugi cried wildly. 

Yami's eyes hardened like steel...no like diamond, and raked across Yugi's slight, defiant figure disdainfully. 

"Ancient Egypt would have destroyed your tender, sentimental soul!" 

Yami's words cut deep, lacing an unexpected scar in Yugi's inmost being. 

"Maybe so in Ancient Egypt, but is that what you want too? Do you want to destroy me?" 

Pharaoh Yami's cold eyes softened, just a bit. 

"No..." he admitted. 

"Then don't BE this way! Don't do this, Yami!" Yugi cried in frustration. "Mahaad is your friend!" 

"NO! If Mahaad _was_ a friend...he wouldn't have left me all alone...again..." Yami's shoulders slumped...then straightened again abruptly. Yami stood so regally stiff that Yugi wondered that he couldn't hear the bones of Yami's spine cracking under the strain. 

"Never again! I want to feel such pain never again. I must...!" 

"No." Yugi countered softly. "I wish that I could have been Mahaad's friend too, as you were. I can tell the heart of my cards is saddened that he is gone. My own heart," Yugi placed his hand over his heart, almost as if giving a pledge, "is...crying, too. But..." 

Yugi gazed up earnestly, with the purity of what he felt standing forth in his eyes. "Do you want the last thing you ever do for your friend to be a terrible spell that causes his soul to wander forever? To never find any rest? I don't know what I believe about the afterlife, but I know that you and Mahaad hold strong beliefs about it. Is this your memorial for him? If he is gone forever, wouldn't it be better to let him find happiness...somehow...wherever he is? Rather than dooming him in your hurt and anger?" 

Yami blinked down at Yugi. The little one had a way of cutting to the quick, putting things in such a simple way that the truths couldn't be glossed over or ignored. It was bad enough that Mahaad was gone. He'd not doom his friend too. 

"Yugi..." he began. Truly, this child was like the other half of his soul! "Thank you. I won't cast the spell. I won't reach for such evil magic. I don't want my last contact with Mahaad to be one that dooms him to wander for all eternity." 

Yugi sighed in relief. He looked up at Yami's face, still somewhat frightened by the fierce and remote aspect of Pharaoh Yami. There had been no change, the Pharaoh's eyes appeared as hard and glittering as before, but Yugi suddenly felt that what Yami most needed from him was... 

...a hug. He started to step forward... 

"You should go. You have my word, I'll not harm Mahaad or any one else with the evil power of the Pharaoh's Curse." Yami's attitude became dismissive again as he turned his back on Yugi. 

"Yami...!" 

"Thank you for helping me to find the path through this, Yugi. But from now on, honor the sanctity of my mind and do not enter here unbidden. You should go now." 

Yami's voice was soft and even, but the underlying steel of command could not be ignored. Yugi felt as if a wall had just been built between them. He wondered, as the door to Yami's mental chamber clicked ominously behind him, if he'd ever be able to get on the other side of that door again. Yami wouldn't hurt Mahaad, Yugi was assured of that, but he wondered if Yami would instead hurt himself, by severing all contacts and embracing his grief instead. 

******** 

"Mahaad, not gone," Shelleene insisted. Akai wished he could get the little Duel Monster to understand. It was subtle, but he could see it every time she uttered her simplistic phrase, that Everon, the Summoned Skull, cringed. Mahaad's loss was still too new, too real, too unbelievable to casually talk about. 

Something about the way Everon had abruptly stiffened after Shelleene had bumped up against him playfully and started a conversation had alerted Akai to the powerful Duel Monster's distress. He'd walked over to see if there was some way he could help. Soothing the various worries of Yugi's Duel Monsters had become almost second nature since the atelier, and Mahaad, had disappeared. 

"Shelleene..." Akai wondered what he could do. How had Mahaad done it? He had watched Mahaad interact with most of the Duel Monsters here in the Magic Box. All of them trusted him and followed his suggestions. Akai had been able to tell that Mahaad was the leader, but it was a leadership granted to him by those he led, not one that Mahaad had seized for himself. Akai wasn't certain, despite knowing that the monsters of Yugi's deck expected him to somehow fill that void, if such 'leadership' had been given to him yet. Maybe he'd lead as Mahaad had...and suggest, rather than command. 

"You know that Everon is very strong and very fierce." 

"Yes." The little Kuriboh smiled happily. "He's my big friend!" 

"Right! But, he can still be hurt..." 

"Grr!" 

"Oh, not in a duel. But, things can still hurt him. Like talking about Mahaad." 

"I not talk about Mahaad to Everon. You." 

"Me? Me what?" 

"I talk with you." 

"Oh. I can talk about Mahaad with you." Shelleene had a very simple way of asking for help. 

"You can take care of him." Take care? Of Everon? But they were talking about Mahaad... 

"Everon? If you don't mention Mahaad around him right now, you are the best one for taking care of him." 

The little Kuriboh shook herself violently in a negative gesture. Her eyes narrowed at Akai in displeasure. "Not Everon! Mahaad!" She sighed heavily. "I take care of Everon. You take care of Mahaad. Then I don't have to take care of Everon anymore; everyone grow happy again!" 

Oh. To her simplistic way of thinking, that did make sense. Akai hadn't realized that Shelleene didn't understand... 

"Mahaad...is gone." he stated simply. 

"I know. You go get him back, k?" 

Oh, this was hard! Everyone understood it, so Akai hadn't had to state it baldly before. He had been able to hide from his own sorrow in not having to state the loss openly. The dim little Duel Monster was going to require that he strip his own comfort away to make her understand. 

"He's...gone. Not coming back. Uhm...dead." Akai said tonelessly. "Not the Graveyard dead....destroyed dead." 

"No." 

Shelleene's voice was as toneless as his. No emotion, just fact. Oh, this was hard! 

"Not dead. Look." Shelleene floated over and took his hand. She pulled him in a circle, making him look all around them. He saw Everon waiting for him to finish his discussion with the Kuriboh patiently a little way off, Garunon, the Curse of Dragon, performing a loop in the air, Mana talking with Neo... 

"I suppose there is a part of him in all the Cards of Yugi's deck," Akai reflected. "But..." 

"Stupid!" Shelleene growled at him, her patience with his blindness finally at an end. "Look! Not at the monsters!" She pulled him in a circle again. 

Not the monsters? What else was there? Just the trees, the sky, the clearing that was empty of the building of the atelier... 

... 

"The Magic Box!" 

"Finally!" Shelleene smiled at him in satisfaction. "You go find Mahaad now, yes? So everyone happy again?" she flitted off to cheer up Everon as best she could. 

Akai just stared after her. She was simple, but that was the best thing of all. She clearly saw the simple truth everyone else had missed. The Magic Box still existed. It was Mahaad's personal magic, therefore, somewhere, somehow, Mahaad still existed. In time with his Kuriboh-inspired revelation, the atelier shimmered back into being. 

"Mana! We have research to do!" 

-------------   
Author's notes - 

I am so sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! No lengthy explanations, I'll just admit that 'real life' got in the way. 

Next Chapter teaser - Chapter Ten - Yami's locked the door between his and Yugi's minds. Akai and Mana discover something...interesting. Yugi must go to a place he's been before, but will he survive the experience? Unless some character or another throws a curve ball my way, this is the final chapter! 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde@stargarde.com   



	10. Searching

At long last, an update!   
--------- 

**Chapter Ten - Searching**

"You have returned," Akai stated in the upper room of the atelier. The Red Dark Sage turned to face him and nodded. 

"You have become strong enough for us to manifest again," he explained. 

"Oh," Akai half-turned at that and ducked his head. 

The Red Dark Sage smiled, and looked into the eyes of the other Dark Magic magicians of Yugi's deck. 

"You still don't quite understand our nature. You can't hide your feelings from us...we ARE you!" 

Akai looked up at that, startled. 

"But...I've never...Yugi's never played your cards when I was on the field..." Akai protested. Mana stood apart from the discussion, forgotten, as soft despair seeped over her from the room full of Red Dark Magic. Not a trace of her master was left! 

"It is one reason Mahaad constructed the atelier to keep us apart from the rest of the cards. We are not as linear as you. Each of us is you, changed or boosted by a spell, ritual or fusion, even though to you that hasn't happened yet." The Red Dark Sage stepped closer, sensing, as all the Red Dark Magic users did, that Akai was most comfortable talking with him. 

"But that means...!" 

"Mahaad!" Mana's knees gave out and she collapsed, sobbing wildly. 

"Mana." 

Arms wrapped around the sobbing girl as the room went still in shock. 

Mana smelled roses. The scent carried her back to her days in ancient Egypt, before all the trouble began. Mahaad had somehow distilled the scent of roses into a crystal vial and given it to her as an apology for a harsh lesson that had left her in tears. It was his way. He never actually said the words, 'I'm sorry' but he would take great efforts to do something nice that acted as his apology instead. The memory served to drive her deeper into grief. 

"Now don't you start that nonsense up again!" 

The words were as bracingly harsh as any Mahaad would have uttered, but the voice... 

...the voice was her own! 

She opened her eyes in shock. She met her own eyes. They were a bit older, perhaps a bit sadder as well, but holding a shy smile within that pretended to be bold. All of a sudden, Mana realized how Mahaad and Akai must have felt when first confronted with their Dark Magic doppelgangers. This girl...no, woman, smelling of Mana's beloved roses, holding her, supporting her, and telling her to snap out of her sobbing...was HER! 

"Me?!" 

She smiled. Again, a soft sadness touched that smile. 

"Mahaad! Is he...gone?!" Mana asked frantically, trying to read that sadness. 

"I don't think so, else I would not be here." The woman stood up, bringing Mana to stand with her. "I am the Dark Magician Valkyrie, a version of you, finally, to offset all these Dark Magicians!" She glared in mock-displeasure at the room full of high level Dark Magic card monsters. 

"But...but...there is no card..." Mana protested. 

The Dark Magician Valkyrie nodded. "Not yet. But Mahaad is the first Dark Magician. I cannot be here if Mahaad doesn't bring the card. Therefore...Mahaad still exists." 

Mana let that information flow over her. 

"Really?!" 

"Really. But, we need to find him. I'll help." The Valkyrie turned and looked at the astonished array of Dark Magicians before her. A teasing smile sparked in her eyes, proving to Akai that this was indeed Mana somehow changed within the framework of Duel Monsters into a different card monster. "It's obvious he's not to be found in any of those here! That suggests to me that he's not currently a Dark Magician." 

Mana blinked at her stupidly. NOT a Dark Magician?! But...but...! 

"How, how could that be?!" Akai asked. 

"I don't know," the Valkyrie admitted. "But what else makes sense? If he were, one of you would reflect that somehow. I see only Red Dark Magic here." 

"If he's not a Dark Magician any longer..." Akai began thoughtfully. 

"It doesn't really matter if he's a card or not," the Valkyrie stated softly. "All of us just want to find him and make sure he's okay, right? Even if he never returns here..." 

Mana understood the nature of the Valkyrie's sad smiles now. She agreed. She'd followed Mahaad into the shadowy world of Duel Monsters, trading her life as a human for an existence as a card to do so. She had no idea if she could follow Mahaad now to wherever he'd gone. 

But that didn't matter. What mattered to her was only that he was okay. Once she saw that with her own eyes, she could return here, help Akai learn more about Dark Magic, laugh and play with her friends, help Yugi in his duels and never let on...never let show how much her heart hurt that her master, mentor and friend was not here sharing those experiences with her. As long as he was okay... 

"How do we find him?" she asked simply. 

"We should look deeper into those places we know he used to be. There must be a trace of his magic we can follow." 

"The Magic Box!" Mana cried out. The Valkyrie nodded. "Yes, but more specifically, the atelier. He made it, there should be traces of him here still. Hopefully, we can track that and find him now." 

-------- 

"Be careful what you wish for," he told himself. "Sometimes it's not what you expect..." 

He thought back to the times when he had to stifle a flash of impatience with one of his fellow Duel Monsters, or when he felt had trapped in his duty and wished he could just get away and be all by himself, even if just for a minute. 

The Magic Box was perhaps the triumph of his magical art, a dimension, a place where the Duel Monsters of Yugi's deck could congregate when they weren't dueling to talk, laugh, relax and play. A place where they could be and in that existing, develop as beings apart from the game of Duel Monsters. 

It had been an audacious idea to try to create a magical dimension, maybe even a conceited one to think that he had that power; but he had to try to give Mana a place to be more than just a Duel Monster. Like himself, she had once been so much more. He knew his mentality could survive the isolation imposed by the existence of a Duel Monster, but he was concerned that Mana might not yet have the discipline. 

It had been the Graveyard that made him think he could craft such a magic. He'd met Mana there once. 

_ "Master!" Mahaad staggered as arms glommed around him enthusiastically, nearly sending them both tumbling to the ground. He fought for his balance successfully, closing his arms reflexively around the person who'd crashed into him. "I knew it had to be you! This armor you wear looks so much like your special summon."___

_ "M, Mana?!" Mahaad smiled at her before remembering his 'dignity' and correcting his expression, though his arms remained loosely around her shoulders.___

_ "A-ha!" Mana teased, pushing on his nose with her forefinger impishly. "I knew you could smile! Where's the on switch? Or is there a special Dark Magic spell, 'Make Master Smile'?"___

_ Mahaad smiled gravely down on her again, even allowing his eyes to twinkle at her in his pleasure. He'd been worried about her!___

_ "How are you doing, Mana? Is everything well with you?"___

_ "Yeah, we better talk 'bout the serious stuff now. We've no idea how long we'll have this chance." Mana realized. Mahaad nodded.___

_ "I've been well, Master. It's hard to learn anything new with Dark Magic now, but I have been able to cast some spells when I'm in Duels. I sleep most of the time."___

_ Her words were matter of fact, but Mahaad knew his apprentice enough to sense her sadness.___

_ "Yes, it is a life of sleeping for most of the time, and fighting for another's will during the rest of it," Mahaad agreed.___

_ "Does it seem silly that I like the Graveyard?" Mana asked worriedly. "Not the gravestones or the Reaper of the Cards, but...well, it's kinda nice to be somewhere, not asleep, where I can walk around or talk to someone and it's my will, not someone else's, that I'm obeying!"___

_ "This is my first time here," Mahaad admitted. "Why don't you show me around?"___

_ Mana smiled, grabbed his hand and pulled at his arm enthusiastically. "Let's see who's here. There are so many nice monsters who come here!"_

He remembered the rest of that first encounter in the Graveyard. He'd been surprised that the monsters who hadn't been human, as he and Mana had been, seemed to possess personality and will while in the Graveyard. He'd learned over his next all-too-infrequent trips to the Graveyard that except for the somber decor and the menace of the Reaper of the Cards, most of the card monsters liked the Graveyard. They liked to Duel too, and were relieved when they were called back into their games, but it was these rare moments of self-willed activity that all Duel Monsters looked forward too. 

His own magic had continued to grow, as his card was used frequently. An awareness of his duelist's will grew too, bringing him the realization that he was his duelist's favorite monster. As time passed, he realized that not only did Yugi possess the Millennium Puzzle, but somehow, shared in Pharaoh Yami's destiny. There were times he could tell it was his Pharaoh who was the duelist he fought for. 

Then came the day his magic was strong enough to sense an object that had been precious to him in his human life. His Magic Box. 

He recalled the well of magic power he'd stored there, and discovered he could still tap into it. Perhaps with this power, he could help Mana have a semblance of the life she'd had before becoming a Duel Monster. It had taken painstaking care to slowly build the spell he hoped would craft a dimension separate from the game. Each time he was called into use in a Duel, he'd set another part of the magic in motion. Finally, his spell was complete. He waited patiently until the Duel he was in concluded, then, resisting the sleep imposed on an inactive Duel Monster, cast his spell. 

_ He opened his eyes to a place of purest white. There was no up or down, no walls, no features, just pure white everywhere he looked. He felt weary. It had already been so long...and this wasn't what he had in mind. Such a place as this might well drive Mana mad. Better to let her sleep until he'd made a place that would suit. Now he would have to start all over. But he was tired, deeply tired, tapped of magic all the way down into his soul. He looked down at his hands as if they had betrayed him in crafting a useless place such as this.___

_ "It's not useless," a voice answered his thoughts aloud.___

_ Mahaad's head snapped up. He should be the only one here!___

_ It was his own eyes he looked into. The Dark Magic pooling in the Duel Monster in front of him was almost visible.___

_ "You...?"___

_ "I am the Dark Sage. I am Mahaad, the Dark Magician, boosted and altered if the conditions are right in a Duel," the Dark Sage told him.___

_ "I see."___

_ "Why is there no paradox?" he asked after a moment.___

_ "Because there's no reality here for me, us, to be a contradiction to," the Dark Sage replied.___

_ "So you are why my spell doesn't work," Mahaad's voice was touched slightly with bitterness. The Dark Sage smiled.___

_ "But I can help make it work."___

_ "I...can't." Mahaad didn't think he had the stamina to begin such an involved spell again. As incomplete as it was now, once he left, this magical construct would dissolve wasting the magic he'd invested in making it.___

_ "Your magic is tapped out? I know. But mine isn't. Since I am you, why not use my magic?" the Dark Sage offered. "Use it to make this place what you wish it to be for Mana."___

_ Mahaad blinked at him. Use the Dark Sage's magic? How? While one part of his mind was yet racing to understand the Dark Sage's offer, another part couldn't help but envision what he would do for his apprentice. A small, circular, stone structure quietly appeared.___

_ "Ah, a place to continue Mana's lessons in Dark Magic. A touchstone to the past and comfort for both of you," the Dark Sage approved. He reached forward and opened the door. "Shall we enter?"___

_ Within was a small magical workshop, complete with bookshelves, a brazier on the worktable, beakers full of various fluids and powders, and every trapping for teaching magic to his apprentice that Mahaad had ever possessed.___

_ The Dark Sage circled around the workshop, nodding his approval. He turned back to face Mahaad again. "Please allow me to add to your workshop."___

_ The Dark Sage closed his eyes in concentration. Mahaad looked at him, intellectually understanding that somehow, in a way, the Dark Sage was him, but still he shivered. He could feel a deepening of the Dark Magic all around him. A massive door appeared floating in the air in the center of the atelier.___

_ "There!" the Dark Sage sighed in satisfaction. "Now, the contradiction of my existence is separated from your dimensional spell. I can remain there," he pointed to the doorway. "You can make the Magic Box become anything you want, without my existence endangering it."___

_ "Why?" Mahaad asked simply. "Why do all this? Why help me?"___

_ The Dark Sage looked into Mahaad's eyes and smiled. "Because I am you. Because what you are doing will help Mana. Because I want to help her as much as you do. And it will help others too."___

_ "Others?"___

_ The Dark Sage turned and opened the door hanging eerily in midair. "You'll see. Now, go outside and make a place Mana will like to come to at least as much as she likes the Graveyard!"___

_ Much later, he stood in front of the atelier, surveying the area around him. What appeared to be sunlight filtered down through trees to splash on a grassy meadow dotted with wildflowers. Just out of sight from where he stood a small brook babbled. He could have made a desert, he supposed, but this seemed nicer somehow. The Graveyard could be the starker place. He wanted this place to be an escape from the somberness of the Graveyard and the boredom of sleeping between Duels for his apprentice.___

_ He'd just hoped he'd gotten it right as he resolutely sent the magic summons he prayed would wake Mana and guide her here.___

_ She appeared abruptly before him, blinking in confusion.___

_ "What? Where?" she squeaked.___

_ "Mana," he couldn't help but smile broadly. "Come see what I made for you!"___

_ "Master?!"___

_ Mahaad reached for her hand to guide her toward the atelier. Something popped into being right in front of his face.___

_ "Coo?!"___

_ Mahaad's eyes widened as he lowered the Dark Magic staff he'd begun, in his surprise, to level at the intruder.___

_ "A Kuriboh?" he asked aloud. "Why would it appear here?"___

_ "Mana!" the fuzzy thing called out, rushing over to stroke against Mana's face affectionately.___

_ "Shelleene!" Mana greeted in turn. "This Kuriboh is my friend, she's from the same Deck that I am," Mana explained.___

_ Mahaad blinked at her. So, this is what the Dark Sage had meant by others! Others...other card monsters from Yugi's deck? How odd. He'd never suspected that they would come here. Then again, he'd felt the "Heart of the Cards" himself. Perhaps it was a spell that Yugi cast over his cards that they could work as one when he needed it in a Duel. No matter. If having the other card monsters from Yugi's deck appear here made Mana happy, he would permit it. In fact...___

_ He sent his magical invitation out again, more strongly and less specifically aimed at Mana. He hoped it would invite all the cards of Yugi's deck to this dimension if they wanted to come..._

A by-now familiar wave of a sadness not his own washed gently over him, jarring him from his memories. He was surprised and touched. He suspected his sense of the passing of time was now skewed, since he was isolated from everyone and everything, but it felt to him as though at least months had passed since his efforts to help Mana rescue Akai had plunged him into this strange, bodiless existence. He had been able to sense Akai's fledgling power grow as the Red Dark Magician suddenly found that his magic was the support upon which the dimension of the Magic Box existed. Mahaad had tried to help shoulder that responsibility for as long as he could after finding himself here, but he knew that he'd ceased being able to help long ago. 

By now, he'd have thought that the transition of duty to maintain the Magic Box and tend the prosperity of the Duel Monsters of Yugi's deck to Akai would have caused him to fade into just a memory, perhaps one tinged with a bit of sadness, to the Duel Monsters of Yugi's deck. However, even though he was no longer part of the Heart of Yugi's Cards, he could still sense a deep sadness there. 

"I know I was important to them. They relied on me.. And...I was honored...that they found me worthy..." 

Mahaad would have cried if he could. It almost seemed as if the Heart of the Cards refused to forget him, tearing open the wound of his loss in his friends again and again to keep it from ever healing. 

"They must let go. Maybe that is why I am still here...because they refuse to let me go!" Mahaad realized. 

Held within a presence he didn't sense and didn't even realize was there, Mahaad had no way to know how very wrong he was. 

------------------- 

Author's notes - 

::sighs:: Did I honestly think I was gonna end this in one chapter?! Hah! ::grumbles about her poor abused outline:: 

Evidently Mahaad wanted to angst and remember (I didn't even know that the Magic Box was made solely for Mana when I first started writing this!), and now he's insisting that I write the whole arc to the ending in "the detail that Yugi's Cards, Yugi, Yami, Mana, Akai and yes, I, deserve." Arrogant much, isn't he? Not to mention demanding, and high-handed, and... 

...well, probably right too. ::Grr!:: 

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Eleven - ??? Uhm... ::stares at blank outline pages:: Well, it's got something to do with high Dark Magicians, and the inner atelier... ::sweatdrop:: 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde(at)stargarde.com   



	11. Discovery

**Chapter Eleven - Discovery**

"Out," Mana demanded, pointing toward the door. "Everyone, get out." 

Akai blinked at her. So did all the high Dark Magicians, before turning to exchange blinking glances with each other. 

"Why?" 

"If there is a trace of Mahaad here, I'll never sense it with all of you _red_ Dark Magicians milling about!" 

"She's got a point," the Dark Magician Valkyrie pointed out. 

"That she does. But, it would threaten the reality of the Magic Box for us to leave the atelier," the Red Dark Sage countered. 

"Oh." 

Mana looked deflated. The was so much of Akai's magic around that there was no way she'd ever catch a hint of her Master's. Maybe she couldn't try to find Mahaad after all. 

"How about the entry room?" Akai ventured. "Leaving here, which after all is where Mahaad disappeared from, and staying in the minor atelier room?" 

"That could work. And if we stayed very still, magically that is, it would make it easier for Mana to try to sense Mahaad," the Dark Magician's Knight suggested. 

"Well, let us try it then," Mana sighed. The high Magicians of Dark Magic, every last one of them, filtered slowly out through the door. 

"Good luck, Mana. Call me if I can help in any way," Akai offered, before pulling the door closed behind himself, leaving Mana and the Valkyrie together. 

"How do you know this will work?" Mana asked. "Perhaps your card is already in Yugi's deck but has never been played," Mana gave voice to a worry that had been gnawing at her. 

"You haven't really looked at me, have you?" the Valkyrie asked. "I can tell that Mahaad is still out there somewhere just by looking at you. You can do the same if you honestly look at me." 

Mana looked up at that, surprised by the words. Look at her? How would that prove anything... 

The Valkyrie's eyes were kind. A slight, sad but hopeful smile curved her lips. Mana blushed, realizing that she had missed something very obvious. Still, despite her mistake, she knew the Valkyrie would never laugh at her. 

"Do you see?" 

Mana nodded, then looked down at her own outfit. 

"I'm still purple. I'd have switched to red if I were Akai's apprentice, right? And you are dressed in purple too." 

"So, Mahaad must still be out there somewhere, some how, since my card was not played before his disappearance. There has to be some way for us to get him back, otherwise, I would wear red." 

"H, how can you be so sure?" Mana nearly wailed as he shoulders slumped dejectedly. "It's been so long, and we've no idea what happened or where to start!" 

"Mana," the Valkyrie stepped forward to take Mana's face between her hands, "have faith, in yourself, in Akai, and in your master. Have faith in me. I wouldn't hurt you by giving you false hope." 

The Valkyrie released Mana and straightened her shoulders resolutely. "My time to be in this deck has not yet come. Somehow I was allowed to come here early to give you hope. I bet you haven't realized one very important thing about me." The Valkyrie winked at Mana. 

Mana blinked up at her. The Valkyrie seemed almost to glow, and spectral wings formed behind her. 

"I am not precisely a Dark Magic user...or at least not only that. And..." the Valkyrie smiled again, "I am weaker than you, especially here in this bastion of Dark Magic. My card is one of Light. Take that light, Mana, use that hope, and find Mahaad!" 

The Valkyrie caught Mana's hands in her own and brought the tips of her ghostly wings around to touch each other behind Mana, wrapping her in their light. 

"I look forward to returning when my time is right," the Valkyrie smiled sweetly one last time, and disappeared. 

Mana blinked at the empty air in front of her. She turned up her empty hands that just a moment before had grasped the Valkyrie's. 

"Where, where did you go? Please, come back!" Mana cried out. 

A feeling bubbled up inside of her, making her feel almost as if the Valkyrie had smiled at her again. She felt...hopeful. And she felt confident. There were no words at all, nothing to explain it, but Mana realized that the light the Valkyrie was speaking of had been given directly to her. Akai, all the high Dark Magicians, the Valkyrie, all of them believed she could find Mahaad. Though they hadn't dared to tell the rest of the cards that Mahaad might somehow return to them, Mana knew she had their trust as well. 

"Well then," Mana stood up and straightened her shoulders resolutely, absolutely unconsciously mirroring the Valkyrie's action when she decided to give Mana her power, "It's high time I honored all that trust and tried to find my master!" 

-------- 

He stomped through the passages and cavernous rooms of his mind. Normally, when he wasn't needed in a duel, he systematically explored the unknown labyrinth and puzzles of his own mind. Shadi's intrusion had started the process of self-discovery for him. Before Shadi had used his Millennium Key to enter his mind, Yami had not quite realized that his mind was completely separate from Yugi's. 

After that, the fated meeting with Ishizu gave him another key to his own identity. She had called him 'Pharaoh' and the title felt familiar. The tantalizing glimpse into his past life opened by her words had slowly been verified by discoveries Yami had made as he explored the winding mazes of his mind. 

Often he wondered at the myriad traps laid here, traps that he had triggered even though it was his mind and he belonged here. Such traps, though they appeared lethal, only served to bring him back to the chamber closest to the corridor connecting his room and Yugi's in their shared mind. He was relieved that the dangers of his mind and his memories were kept separate from Yugi's mind. He shuddered to think what would happen if the darkness in him overwhelmed Yugi's bright innocence. Still, he was puzzled. If any had the right to know his past, would it not be he? What secret could be so dangerous that he had somehow contrived to have it locked away from even himself? 

Ever since throwing Yugi out, though he admitted that the young one had led him to the proper path, Yami had sulked here. Yugi wisely avoided Shadow Duels, or maybe there was just a lull in the dangerous Shadow Games right now. Yami hadn't been curious enough to step into the shared mindspace to find out. 

Sometimes he envied Yugi his simple, innocent life. Yugi could have friends, go to school, indulge in games and live a normal life. His destiny hadn't been sacrificed for some unknown, fateful purpose. Even as his thoughts took this dark turn, Yami struggled to deny them. 

Yugi deserved his simple, non-tragic life. Actually, Yami realized that he'd brought more danger and darkness to his partner, danger that Yugi never ran from, he had to admit, than he'd had a right to visit on anyone. And Yugi never complained about it, thinking only of how to help Yami and not of whatever toll it might take on him. 

The corridors lightened and darkened as Yami's thoughts and mood rocked back and forth so extremely. 

"He's been nothing but a good friend," Yami finally said aloud, dropping to sit on the ground with his back against one wall of the corridor he found himself in. 

"He's like a cheerful conscience for me. I would have doomed Mahaad, if not for him." 

A faint blush stained Yami's cheeks. 

"And I was...rude and ungrateful to him. He's the best friend I've had ever since those days in ancient Egypt, and I..." 

Yami knew why he'd been so harsh with little Yugi. He was sure that Yugi knew the reason too, and had already forgiven him for the outburst. 

Mahaad...his dearest friend...was gone. 

The corridor deepened to black as Yami brought his legs up to his chest, dropped his head down to his knees, curled up dejectedly and finally gave into his grief. 

"Mahaad!" 

-------- 

There! It was there...the faintest touch of her master's magic. Mana could feel it. It was faint, so light it was almost like an aroma hanging in the air, or a wispy half-forgotten daydream from a carefree childhood day. She hardly dared to breathe, afraid of losing the magical spoor of her master. 

She smiled, imagining what Mahaad would say to her fanciful notions. 

"So," the Mahaad before her mind's eye teased, "you are now a dog scenting out my magic?" 

Mana placed herself on the stage in her mind and nodded. 

"A magical bloodhound!" she agreed enthusiastically. "Now I've only got to follow the trail." 

Her imaginary Mahaad placed a hand upon his brow wearily, with a restrained theatricism and sighed. "All this fancy after I've been so patiently teaching you the science and dignity of magic!" 

"If I find you, Master, perhaps I need to teach you the ways of the whimsy of magic," Mana stated firmly. 

Her imaginary Mahaad smiled gravely and faded, as Mana couldn't fathom her master's response if she were ever to be so bold as to actually say that to him. But...the touch of his magic seemed stronger now. 

"Maybe I will have to ask you what you'd say if I told you that, Master!" Mana challenged the thread of magic she now held tightly. "It would be worth it just to see the expression on your face!" 

For the first time, Mana truly believed that she could somehow find Mahaad, and bring him home. 

Closing her eyes, Mana made certain her grasp on the distinctive touch of Mahaad's magic was firm, before turning and opening the door to the lesser room of the atelier. 

"I've got it," she told Akai, as he looked up at the opening of the door. "I just don't know how to follow it!" 

-------- 

Yugi knocked tentatively on the door. Yami had told him to never enter unbidden here again, but... 

Yugi bit his lip and wondered what he should do. He knew, it was almost an agony deep in his heart, that Yami needed him. 

But...Yami had forbidden him to enter... 

Yugi turned his back against the door to Yami's mind, and slid down the wall until he was sitting with his back supported by the door. 

"Yami...let me in," Yugi pleaded in a broken whisper. "I can tell...you need me."

--------

"So," Akai helped Mana back to her feet, "what can you tell us?" Worry haunted Akai's eyes. 

There had been a very real danger that Mana's soul would have been lost too, sending her forth with the power of Dark Magic as they did to follow the trace of Mahaad's magic back to it's source. 

"I'm fine," Mana smiled, "You didn't lose me!" She raised both hands up to push against her temples. "I'm fine, except for this headache!" 

A hand dropped to her shoulder. Mana looked up and started. The Magician of Black Chaos always startled her a bit. He appeared so fierce! 

He offered her a cup. "This will help you find your proper balance, and cure your headache," he told her. 

She drank, wondering a bit at the odd taste, but true enough, with miraculous speed, her headache eased. She felt a bit as though she'd lost track of something important though. 

"What did that do?" Mana asked, her eyes widening. 

"Do not worry. If you have truly found Mahaad, the Valkyrie's Light is no longer needed. In this place, so steeped with the power of Dark Magic, holding a mixture of Dark and Light can be a strain." 

Mana blinked up at him, finally realizing the reason for his ever-grim expression. 

"You are both Dark and Light..." 

The Chaos Magician's eyes tightened fractionally telling Mana that she had hit the mark. 

"The Light in me is contained within the Dark, and I am more powerful than you. It is...uncomfortable, but I can function. The Valkyrie's unusual merge with you would have harmed you in the end with her Light, Mana. Neither she, nor Mahaad, would want that." 

"But..." Mana felt a bit bereft of the confidence, hope and over-all buoying nature of the Valkyrie. Did this mean she would never see that doppelganger aspect of herself again? 

"Never fear," the Magician of Black Chaos told her again. "When the time is right, the Valkyrie will return. In the proper course of things, there will be no damaging strain on you. You shall see her again, Mana." 

He reached down and retrieved the cup from her unresisting hands. "What can you tell us?" 

"It was like...I fell into dreaming, as the Dark Magic spell all of you cast came over me. I looked back and could see you, and all of you looked..." Words failed her. There was no way she could describe how the Dark Magicians appeared to her while she was cradled in and sent forth by the power of their combined Dark Magic to try to find Mahaad. "Well, I won't ever forget how all of you appeared! It seemed to me as if I flew out from here, into the Magic Box and then up, and out of the Box entirely. All the while, the thread of Mahaad's magic led me along, almost as if he left it on purpose for us to find him." 

Mana's expression fell slightly. 

"But...once I arrived at the place it led me, I lost track of it again. Once I left that place, I could sense it again, but, as soon as I re-entered, I couldn't follow." 

"Akai...it, the place..." Mana paused, trying somehow to rein in her despair, "...it looked like a tomb." 

"He hasn't...please, tell me, Akai...we haven't gone through all of this just to find...his tomb?" 

"Wouldn't his magic have simply ceased if he were dead?" Akai asked in a voice meant to soothe. 

"N, no...I don't think so. Not right away. He was very powerful." 

"He _is_ very powerful. _Is_, Mana." 

Mana's eyes were wide and sorrowful. She'd seen the grandeur of the some of the tombs of Egypt for herself. If Mahaad were there, in an Egyptian tomb, she feared that all she had found was his final resting place. 

"Mana, recall what happened when he disappeared. He was here, in this very room, coordinating the energy and power of his own magic, the Heart of the Cards, Dark Magic and the power of the Millennium Puzzle when he disappeared. And the way he disappeared...there would...there would be no body to bury. So...what if the place you found wasn't a tomb? Couldn't you be mistaken?" 

Mana recalled the memories of her Dark Magic assisted journey seeking the last echoes of her master's magic step by step. She shook her head. 

"I've been in enough tombs to recognize them," she protested. 

"The carvings on the walls, floors and ceilings. The friezes of the gods and goddesses, details of the burial rights, the hieroglyphs...there's no way the place I was led isn't a tomb!" 

Akai let her words flow over him, picturing each feature as she described it. It was almost as if he too were on that journey, following the power of Mahaad into a tomb. Strange how clearly the images appeared to him, as he'd never seen an Egyptian tomb before... 

Why were the images so clear then, as if he were looking at his own memory instead of creating images from Mana's description? 

Purple eyes suddenly opened before him in his mysteriously out-of-place memory of a tomb. 

"Of course! I _have_ been there before!" 

As one, the rest of the Dark Magicians nodded, as Akai's knowledge was their own. Only Mana remained locked in hopeless despair. 

"Mana," Akai caught up her hands to force her to look into his sincere eyes. "I have been there before, in the grand tomb you found. It has to be the same place!" Akai gripped her hands more tightly, trying to impart his certainty that he was right to her directly. "Think back! With all the powers that Mahaad was trying to control at that moment...do you remember what happened just before all of you rescued me?" 

Mana cast her mind back to that moment, the moment when all the forces they summoned in their attempt to to recover Akai threatened to overwhelm her. 

"Yugi, and Yami suddenly appeared and helped us," she realized. 

"They are the bearers of the Puzzle, and Mahaad was _at that point_ channeling the power of the Millennium Puzzle. I have been in the tomb you discovered, Mana. Somehow, that tomb is in Yami's mind. He invited, no, commanded me to appear there, when I first became a part of this deck, to make certain I wouldn't harm Yugi." 

Mana stared at him, the beginnings of hope started to lighten her expression. 

"Further, though I had been specifically 'invited', Mahaad showed up, evidently on his own, as Yami was surprised to see him there," Akai told her. 

"My Master...was always...a great friend...to the Pharaoh," Mana whispered tremulously. 

"From what you have found, I think that the magical backlash that took Mahaad from us flung him into the mind of the Pharaoh. Or maybe into the Puzzle. Or maybe, both are the same thing," Akai pondered. "No longer able to remain corporeal, yet not willing to die, Mahaad was forced onto the path of least resistance, aided by the fact that Yami was here helping him, somehow or another into the Puzzle itself!" 

Akai shook his head, shaking his thoughts out of the mystical implications of what had suddenly become so clear to him. "No matter! Thank you, Mana, for finding this clue. Now, the rest is up to me!" 

Mana glommed onto Akai's arm. "No. It's still up to us! I'm going with you." 

"I haven't even figured out how to get there!" Akai protested. "And it's certain to be dangerous...." 

"I don't care. If you don't bring me with you, Akai, I'll try to follow on my own. Wouldn't that be more dangerous?" 

Akai glared down at Mana, who only continued to smile disingenuously up at him. He finally smiled. 

"I bet you try to use such backward logic to get your way with Mahaad all the time," he chuckled. 

"Yes!" 

"I bet it doesn't work very well either. We need to get Mahaad back soon as he's the only one who has a chance of successfully dealing with you!" 

Mana started to glare, then realized that despite his mean-sounding words, Akai was going to let her come. 

"Yes!" She nodded firmly, smiling all the while. "If you don't get Mahaad back, Akai, I'll never give you a moment's peace!" 

"Truly a fate I'd rather avoid," Akai teased her gravely. 

------------------- 

Author's notes - 

I'm probably going to be overwhelmed myself at work again this week, and this chapter was close enough for me to want to post it (and not make you wait too long). I feel a bit bad that the rest of the Cards are being ignored, but haven't quite found a way to naturally work them into this section, yet. If I do, I'll post a revised chapter. 

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Twelve - ??? Found! Mahaad has been found! But that doesn't necessarily mean that they can recover him... 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde(at)stargarde.com


	12. Threading the Labyrinth

**Chapter Twelve - Threading the Labyrinth**

****

Akai closed his eyes. He calmed his breathing and slowed his mind down from the rocketing maelstrom of hope, worry and trepidation that seemed to be the norm here in the Magic Box. He thought back to all that had happened since he opened his eyes in what appeared to be an Egyptian tomb and spoke with the one Mahaad referred to as 'my Pharaoh'. 

He'd been led here by Mahaad, to the Magic Box, the place where the duel monsters could exist outside of duels. He'd learned to his dismay that all the duel monsters of Yugi's deck had some concern about his being here, a concern that ranged all the way up to loathing in Mana's case. 

He'd learned the full extent of the evil Arcana was capable of, gazing at the tattered shreds of his fellow Dark Magician cards from Arcana's deck, and realizing the horror Arcana proposed to inflict on Mana. 

He'd discovered how far down into his being his feelings went, when he willingly gave everything up to try to save Mana. 

He'd been humbled by how deeply the other cards of Yugi's deck had come to care for him, and how fair and honest Mana was, as proven by how much all of them fought to regain him. He'd been stunned to learn how much his duelist cared for him, and respected him, when Yami and Yugi arrived within the Magic Box to help with the massive combined magic required to rescue him. 

He'd been awed by how true and steadfast Mahaad's friendship was, that Mahaad would willingly place himself into grave peril to try to rescue him. 

He'd realized how much he had come to care for all of them in turn; he, who after he had felt so betrayed by Arcana decided that he would never care for anyone. His jaded bitterness was as nothing to the power of respect and friendship. 

He'd learned...he was a pretty good friend too. He wanted to bring Mahaad back. It didn't matter that he was now the top card in the Magic Box, and that if Mahaad returned he would forever be relegated to a number two position. When he'd first come here, he thought his goal was to somehow perform one act of his own will in a duel. With Dark Retribution, he'd done that. Now, his goal... 

His goal was to duel for Yugi. And to be a good friend to all of Yugi's cards. 

And that meant using every ounce of power, every iota of will and every erg of effort to bring Mahaad back. 

So...to the place where it all began. He had to somehow find a way to return to the contradictory, phantom tomb of an ancient, though still-living pharaoh. 

He reached for Mana's hand, then pushed gently and precisely against his Dark Magic with all of his heart. 

And they disappeared. 

-------- 

Yugi turned and groaned. He stood up slowly, as he had stiffened while sleeping fitfully in the corridor between his and Yami's mind. He wondered, not for the first time, that all of this seemed so real to him. He reached out and felt the coolish, rough surface of the hewn rock of the corridor's walls. When he brushed his fingers against a bit of lichen it even felt tacky! 

He knew this place was only in his mind. He knew that if he entered his mind room and fell asleep there, he would 'wake up' in the real world, the one with his friends, Joey, Tea and Tristan. That world, the real one, has his grandfather, his grandfather's shop, his school, when he wasn't on semester break like now, and everything else physical and 'real'. 

This...place, for that was how it seemed to him, held ancient prophecies and destinies, darkened secrets and remnants of forbidden magic. It also held truths deeper than any he'd ever known and the partner his solving the Millennium Puzzle tied his destiny to. Yugi didn't think he could ever go back to the simple destiny that was his before he solved the Puzzle. After 'meeting' Yami, Yugi didn't want to. 

Yami respected him. Yami had never seen Yugi as someone to be ridiculed, as even Yugi's best friend, Joey, had at one point. Yami always had faith in him. 

Maybe it was just that someone believed in him, but Yugi had found more strength in himself than he ever believed he held. It was that strength that helped him keep both sides of his life, the real one of the physical world and the prophecy-laden one of the Shadow Games from driving him mad. 

Yugi shook his head, wondering at just how complex his life had become. He lifted his hand away from the lichen-marbled wall and rubbed his fingertips against his sleeve to get the sticky feeling out of his fingertips. 

Despite his musings about his two worlds, Yugi knew that Yami was just as real as any of his friends. This reality existed only in his mind, but it was a reality he shared with Yami. Yugi might have worried about his sanity if not for that, and if not for the fact that he knew it was the power of the Millennium Puzzle that created this pocket reality. 

He respected Yami's command to not enter Yami's 'room', but that didn't mean he was completely cut off from his partner. He could tell that Yami was still locked in grief. He knew that Yami was still mourning all alone in a dark and quiet corridor, weeping even, for his lost friend, Mahaad. 

"Yami." 

-------- 

It was too much to bear, this destiny of his. 

Destiny had demanded too much from him already. He had nothing left to give. 

He still didn't remember it all, but each new room he discovered in his mind was a new memory of his old life that he managed to reclaim. 

Though there was much yet to remember, Yami had regained a great deal of his past history. Most of his memories of Mahaad were now his again, as he'd concentrated on discovering those memories in particular after Yugi's Purple Dark Magician had revealed that he was Mahaad. 

Perhaps that was why this hurt so much. If he hadn't regained those memories, he wouldn't feel the depth of anguish he was suffering now. 

If only... 

If only he knew more about the Puzzle. He knew that it was an ancient, powerful magic from the by-gone days of the pharaoh he'd once been in Egypt. He knew that it housed powerful magic, dangerous magic, the magic of the Shadow Games. He didn't know if it was the source of power for the Shadow Games, or a key to lock those dangerous powers away. He knew that when Yugi solved the Puzzle, Yugi's destiny became tangled in his. 

He didn't know how tightly that destiny had been woven. Yugi and he shared a single being, with their minds mercifully divided by the corridor they shared equally. 

Thinking of the corridor brought Yami a strong, clear, mental picture of Yugi waiting in that corridor for him to respond to the polite knocks on his door. 

He wasn't mad at Yugi. He didn't want to cause the young one any distress or pain, but he couldn't bear to see him now. 

He couldn't bear his own thoughts. 

He couldn't bear his memories, the ones he recalled and the ones still hidden. 

He couldn't bear that Mahaad, who had been part of his life in ancient Egypt, and part of his life is this modern time, was gone. 

He couldn't bear his destiny. 

He couldn't bear that Yugi had been snared into that destiny. 

That shared web of destiny was the only reason Yami didn't seek some way to destroy the blasted Puzzle that had brought him such pain. 

If he could be certain such an act wouldn't endanger Yugi, Yami would risk destroying the Puzzle. He had a very strong feeling that destroying the Puzzle would destroy him too, releasing him from this awful destiny. 

He didn't want to see another friend sacrifice himself for him as Mahaad had done. The guilt he felt that Mahaad had willingly given up his destiny, to take up a new and altered one, as his regained memories had revealed, rose in him again. That Mahaad had lost it all trying to control the power of the Millennium Puzzle was a final twist of the knife of grief buried in his heart. 

-------- 

"Oh, no!" Mana cried out as she and Akai appeared in the corridor between Yugi and Yami's minds. She dashed over to kneel at Yugi's side, where he'd seemingly collapsed in the corridor. She had no idea where they were, but Yugi's condition worried her more. 

It took Akai a moment longer to gain his bearings, as he had expected to materialize in the tomb, not in this corridor he'd never seen before. 

"Yugi! Yugi! Are you all right?" Mana asked lifting his shoulders from the ground. 

Yugi's eyes opened. Their purple color was misty with sleep-wrought confusion. 

"Mana?" he scooted back up to sit against the door again. "I must be dreaming. I've never done that here before." 

Akai knelt next to him too. 

"You're not dreaming. Mana and I are really here, though I was trying to bring us to the other side of this door," he told him. 

"R,really? How did you...?" Yugi began before rubbing his eyes to clear his sleepy thoughts. "Don't tell me, 'Dark Magic'. Sure wish I could use it, it seems to be very useful!" 

"Okay," Yugi sighed as he put his hands on the ground to stand up. Before he could complete his action, as one, Mana and Akai assisted him to his feet. 

"Maybe I was better off down there," Yugi teased. "I always forget how tall you Dark Magicians are!" 

Akai smiled. 

"Either I've totally lost my grip on reality, or both of you are really here," Yugi pondered. "I should probably worry that both options seem equally reasonable to me." 

Akai and Mana exchanged concerned looks. There was no way to convince Yugi they were really here! 

"Uhm...assuming I'm not insane, why are you here?" Yugi finally asked. 

"We think we've found Mahaad!" Mana told him breathlessly. 

Yugi just blinked up at them, too stunned for words. Akai nodded firmly. "But it's in the other place in your mind, the Pharaoh's tomb." 

"H,how...?" 

"We think it's because Mahaad was using the Puzzle when he disappeared. It was too powerful for him to channel, even with Yami's help, because he is now only a duel monster," Mana explained. 

"True, but because Yami, the Pharaoh, appeared and tried to help, Mahaad's soul was brought into the Puzzle," Akai continued. 

"We think. At least, when I try to follow the trail of Mahaad's magic, that's where it goes," Mana finished. 

Yugi stared up at them, with the beginning of a hopeful smile dawning on his face. 

"But, that's wonderful! If we can find him, we can help Yami!" 

"Help...Yami?" Akai and Mana asked as one. 

"He was gonna curse Mahaad for sacrificing himself again. I managed to talk him out of it somehow, and since then..." 

"Curse?! No, not the Pharaoh's Curse!" Mana cried out. 

Yugi nodded. "But he won't. He promised me." 

Yugi's expression fell a little. 

"But ever since then, he won't let me in," Yugi admitted. "And, I can tell, he's...suffering." 

All three of them fell silent considering that. Mahaad was certainly important to each of them, but Mahaad was Yami's best friend. It was only natural that Yami would feel Mahaad's loss keenly. 

"Well, then, let us see what we can do about this door," Akai decided. "Have you tried to open it?" 

Yugi shook his head. "Uhm, no. Just knocking." 

"I think our news is welcome enough that Yami will forgive us for rudely barging in," Akai replied. He put his hand to the knob and turned. That is, tried to turn it. 

"Locked," he reported. 

Mana stared at Akai until she caught his eye. 

"Yugi, perhaps we should walk a few yards up the corridor," Akai suggested. Once they were out of the immediate area, Mana sliced a Dark Magic blast along the wall toward the door. It deflected across the door, whining down the corridor away from the three of them. 

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Mana observed, seeing as how her blast only singed the lichen on the wall. She tried again. 

-------- 

"This is pointless," Yugi sighed what seemed like hours later. 

Akai's magic, Mana's magic, Akai's and Mana's magic combined, all three of them pushing on the door, banging on the door, calling Yami's name...none of it served to open the door into Yami's mind even the tiniest crack. Never had Yugi felt so helpless. 

"Darn Yami's stubbornness!" Mana pouted. "It's just like when he was the Pharaoh!" Akai had long since taken up a position leaning against the wall, cupping his chin and pondering the immovable door. 

"Yami, please...please, let us in," Yugi pleaded most earnestly, with the palms of his hands flat against the door. It was probably the thousandth time he'd begged. 

"Yugi..." Mana didn't like to see him so quietly defeated. "In Egypt, long ago, the Pharaoh would sometimes go into his chambers for days on end when he was upset. It's not that he doesn't care about you, it's just..." 

Akai pushed himself up from his position on the wall, breaking Mana's train of thought. His gesture was crisp as he motioned for them to back away from the door. Yugi and Mana traded a worried glance at the resolve in Akai's eyes, a bit frightened at the power a ticked-off Dark Magician might be able to tap. 

Akai merely laid his hands upon the door as Yugi had done. 

"Enough is enough. This is frustrating everyone, and starting to hurt both Yugi and Yami. If the Pharaoh is too stubborn to open the door, will you not grant us entrance...Mahaad?" 

"Akai..." Yugi began, thinking that the Red Dark Magician's mind must have snapped. 

The door quietly opened. 

"I would say we are finally on the right track," Akai observed. "Mahaad is not dead. Somehow he is safe in the tomb in Yami's mind!" 

Yugi blinked hard. He didn't want the sudden tears of relief that flooded his eyes to spill and betray his weakness. 

Mana sank to her knees, dropping her wand to clatter against the floor. 

"He's here...I wasn't sure...didn't want to believe...." 

She raised both hands to cover her face. Yugi couldn't help it. His tears slid from his eyes, but he didn't care as he reached his arm around Mana's shaking shoulders to offer her support and comfort. 

"Let's go find him so we can stop Yami's sulking," he suggested. 

Akai nodded, agreeing with Yugi's plan as he bent down to retrieve Mana's wand as Yugi helped her to stand again. 

"I will go first, then you, Yugi, and Mana will follow. I suspect there are dangers inside. If anything should happen to us, Yugi, please, will you return to the safety of this corridor, or your room?" Akai formed it as a question, but Yugi knew it was more of a command. He nodded anyway, touched that Akai was concerned for him. 

"I've been in the tomb before. None of the traps seemed to bother me," Yugi offered. 

"I'm not willing to take anything for granted. Shall we?" 

-------- 

Yami had long since stopped paying attention to Yugi's attempts to get into his room. There was no way the young one could muster the power to open the door until he allowed it to, and he was not yet ready to face anyone, even Yugi, so he just ignored the knocking, banging and pleas. 

He'd apologize to his partner later...if there was a later. Right now, he didn't want to continue living. 

He suspected that worse things had happened to him in the past, but he didn't want to try to find the strength to go on. Maybe, if he just stayed in this abandoned corridor in the labyrinth of his mind, his destiny would get bored with him and leave him alone. Maybe he could just slip into a forever sleep and not have to deal with any other friends dying to serve his cruel, cruel destiny. 

"You're just going to give up then?" a disapproving voice demanded. 

Yami uncurled from his grief, stung by the censure in the unexpected voice. He looked up. 

"Mana!" 

"Some Pharaoh you are! Hmph," she turned her back with a decisive flounce. 

"Mana!" Akai protested. 

"Yami...," Yugi knelt down and took Yami's shoulders into his hands. "You know you don't have to deal with anything alone, right? But...I guess it gets tiresome always having me hanging around. I'm sorry we intruded into your mind, but, we have good news." 

Instantly Yami felt shame that Yugi felt he wasn't wanted. 

"Yugi, I..." 

"Later. We think we've found Mahaad," Yugi interrupted him. 

"Found...Mahaad?!" 

"He's here, Yami. In the Puzzle, or in your mind. He's the one who opened the door to let us in here," Yugi explained. 

"Mahaad's not dead?" 

"I followed the master's power to a place that seemed like a tomb. Akai recognized the tomb I described and brought us here," Mana told him. "Well, not here, but the corridor between your minds. Since you were being too stubborn in your grief to let anyone in!" 

"Mana, Akai, Yugi...I'm sorry. I didn't know," Yami looked down at the floor in thought. "Are you sure? He's here...safe, in my mind?" 

"I'm not sure how safe it is," Yugi admitted, thinking back to some of the traps that troubled them on the way to find Yami, "but he's here. How else did the door open when Akai thought to ask Mahaad to open it?" 

"Since you were being so awful about it!" Mana added tartly. 

"Enough, Mana. I am certain that Yami knows who he's going to have to have a discussion with, and apologize to, once we've finished our task here. For now, shall we see what we can do about bringing Mahaad back and bringing some level of normalcy back to here and to the Magic Box?" Akai suggested. 

He offered his hand to help Yami up. 

Yami dusted himself off, taking a moment to compose his thoughts too. He didn't dare to believe in what they were claiming. Yet, somehow, they had entered his mind when he didn't let them in. Come to think of it, it would be just like Mahaad to have gotten himself stuck here and interfere to let Yugi and the others in to find him. He'd probably give Yami a hard time about sinking into a depression over him. Yami decided abruptly that if that happened... 

...he'd be too relieved to care. 

"So...any ideas where to look? This maze sometimes seems to be endless!" 

Mana's smile fell. "I thought you would know where he might be," she admitted. "I can't sense his magic at all here within the tomb." 

"We can just start looking, I guess," Yami sighed. "And hope we get lucky. Who knows how long it will take!" 

"I think..." Yugi began. "I think I might know exactly where he is!" 

--------------------- 

Author's notes - 

Just a few more chapters and then I've got to end this! Originally, I was going to have Arcana put Mana in peril, have Akai sacrifice himself to rescue her, have Mahaad and Mana (and the rest of Yugi's Duel Monsters) rescue Akai, and that would be it. 

Since then, I've managed to lose Mahaad, started to explore the inner workings of Yami and Yugi's Millennium Mind and concocted plans for one more (I lie, two more) dramatic twists. 

I'm afraid a formula is developing, put [insert character name here] into peril, rescue said character, put [insert different character name here] into peril, rescue said character... I don't want to be predictable. It's boring to read a story wrapped around a formula. 

And so, as Yami complains in a chapter I'm still working on, "Mahaad, you and I need to somehow or another stop all this chaos." (Of course I bring Mahaad back! Some of you are such YOLFs!) Still, I've got to come up with a way to bring this runaway story to a good ending. Poor Yugi does have an ordinary life to lead, after all! 

Next chapter teaser - Chapter 13 - ???????? Dark Magician. Hmm, wonder what the question marks stand for? 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde(at)stargarde.com 


	13. Guardian Dark Magician

**Chapter Thirteen - Guardian Dark Magician**

He was jarred suddenly. It was the second time since he'd lost his battle to control the ravening power of the Millennium Puzzle that he'd become aware of something outside of his consciousness. The other time it was as if Akai had called out to him directly, asking for his help. 

Then, there had been no words, just a plea that Mahaad do something to help Yugi and Yami. Mahaad had somehow responded, he was certain of it, but he had no idea what form that response had taken, except to knock him senseless for a while. 

Now, it almost felt as though he were in an earthquake, sliding helplessly along as a bottomless chasm opened underneath him. He found he was truly helpless, trapped in the fear of the unknown, unable even to find his bearings to concentrate enough and understand what was happening or how to avert the logical end of his sudden, disastrous free fall. 

"Is this to be...my end?" he wondered. 

A vast power caught him within itself. There was no pain, even the panic ceased. He knew, somehow, he was safe. 

A moment later, he also knew that the being 'Mahaad' was, for all intents and purposes, to be no more. He was trapped more thoroughly than he had ever been, bound tightly in chains that had no form, locked somehow within an alien, powerful being suffused with the power of Dark Magic. He felt when his consciousness, and his power, which seemed feeble compared to the Dark Magic literally dissolving him, slipped and melted completely, draining completely into whoever or whatever had trapped him. 

-------- 

Yugi almost felt as though his heart would burst. Surely, surely Mahaad was here! Mana sensed him in the tomb of Yami's mind, and Akai had explained the logic behind his conclusion that Mahaad would come here. Even Yami seemed to think it made sense. Yugi couldn't help but recall when he'd confronted the Dark Magician in this very hallway. 

Shadi had used the Millennium Key to enter the corridor in Yugi's mind and from there cross into Yami's mind; Yugi had saved Shadi from one of the many traps in the labyrinth of Yami's mind and joined him, offering his help to try to find some secret Shadi wished to discover. After Yugi had asked, Yami stopped obscuring the path to that secret, and Shadi and he had discovered this corridor. The walls were formed of great stone tablets, depicting powerful duel monsters. To Yugi's surprised awe, the Dark Magician stepped forth from his stone tablet to block their way. He remembered how his heart had pounded upon seeing his favorite duel monster made real! That Dark Magician hadn't been just a hologram, but the real-life duel monster! Yugi had noted the determined look in the Dark Magician's eyes and almost felt as if he could sense the power in the being that stood before them. 

Yugi had always considered the Dark Magician his friend. The Dark Magician was more than his favorite card, he was Yugi's friend among the duel monsters, even before he'd heard of Mahaad, or met Akai. There was just something about the image on the card, the way the Dark Magician bore a subtle arrogance in duels, born of being 'the ultimate magic user in terms of attack and defense' no doubt, that made it impossible for Yugi to not like him. Yugi wished so strongly for that almost arrogant air of checked power that the Dark Magician had become the card he most identified with himself. Not the 'himself' he was, but the 'himself' he wished he were. 

And it seemed almost as if the card itself had responded. Whenever he'd found himself in a bad situation in a duel, Yugi knew if he could just draw the Dark Magician, it would be okay. He didn't even have to play the card, just holding it gave him the confidence to try to win. And somehow, whenever he needed that confidence, though he had only one Dark Magician in his deck, he would draw it. Sometimes he wondered if it were some kind of magic. It made him respect the Dark Magician all the more, thinking that the card knew what was going on enough to make sure he would come to Yugi's hand. 

As he had grown more skilled in the game, he didn't need to see the card to know it was there. His need to draw it lessened, but still, just having the card in his deck reassured him. And he knew, if he had a moment of doubt, he wouldn't even have to wish for it, but the Dark Magician would find some way into his hand to reassure him and bolster his confidence. It almost seemed as if the Dark Magician considered him a friend too. 

Whenever the Dark Magician was destroyed in a duel, Yugi felt almost as if a part of his soul died too. It was only his dueling skill that permitted him to sacrifice the Dark Magician, or allow his favorite card to be taken down in a duel and even then, sometimes he had to fight to keep his will strong enough to deter him from trying to save the Dark Magician. He'd remind himself that it was only a game, even if it were a Shadow Game, and as long as he won, the Dark Magician would be okay. It was always with a measure of relief that he picked up the 'graveyard' pile and added the card into his deck again. 

He was horrified when Shadi told him the Dark Magician meant to attack them and prevent their progress. Shadi began to try to awaken the Blue Eyes White Dragon from it's stone tablet until Yugi stopped him. 

There was no way he would allow Shadi to attack the Dark Magician with the Blue Eyes White Dragon! That the Dark Magician had leveled his staff to attack him was almost more than he could bear. But, destroying the Dark Magician, not merely a simulacrum created by Seto's holo-system, but the 'real' Dark Magician (for that was how it had appeared to him that day), right in front of him, _was_ more than Yugi could bear. He'd rather suffer the Dark Magic attack than watch as Shadi destroyed the Dark Magician. 

He'd seen Shadi's eyes widen when he'd talked the Dark Magician down from his attack. Yugi thought he saw a flash of respect in Shadi's opaque eyes that the Dark Magician followed his words. Before they could finish their walk down the corridor to the secret door, Shadi had withdrawn his Millennium Key, removing both himself and Yugi from Yami's mind. 

Once he had learned of Mahaad's past, and after he met Akai, Yugi knew it was Mahaad as the Dark Magician whom he admired so much. Akai had become not only his Dark Magician, but also his friend. But, even though he wielded the same powers, and bore that hint of arrogance that delighted Yugi, Akai wasn't quite the same as 'his' Dark Magician. Mahaad was the Dark Magician that Yugi would always think of as 'his', as the Dark Magician his heart not-so-secretly wished he could be. 

"Celtic Guardian...Summoned Skull..." Yugi mentioned each duel monster as he remembered them from his trip here with Shadi. He looked down. Sure enough, the Blue Eyes White Dragon's stone tablet formed the floor they stood upon. The Dark Magician's tablet should be just ahead. 

"It...makes sense...if he is here," Yugi stated nervously. He hoped, he prayed that Mana, Akai and Yami were right. In part, for them; Mana and Akai had told them how the rest of the cards mourned still, and Yugi knew that Yami was still suffering from the loss of his friend. But, he missed his favorite card too! There was something almost unapproachable about Mahaad, making Yugi feel as if he would always be a child who would never measure up to his hero, but he wanted that hero back, even if he never did measure up. Yugi shook his head, mentally shaking himself from his memories and self-absorbed thoughts. He didn't care what his reasons and motivations were, he just wanted his favorite card, no, the purple Dark Magician, no...dammit! He just wanted Mahaad back! Leading the way, Yugi sped up slightly. 

-------- 

He'd been awakened. Fully awakened, as had happened only once before. This time, four beings tread, unheeding of their great peril, through the passage that was his ultimate duty to defend against such intrusion. It was for this that he had been placed here, and charged most solemnly, with binding oaths whose consequences would make even the gods shake, if he were to falter in that duty. 

Accessing the merest touch of his power, he separated from the stone that housed him when he was dormant, and blocked further advance into the sacred hallway. 

Two Dark Magic duel monsters, a Magician and a Dark Magician Girl, a mortal child and...the avatar of the Pharaoh stopped suddenly before him. 

He discounted the duel monsters as no threat right away, as with the First Dark Magician contained within him, he was more powerful than they. The presence of the Pharaoh troubled him. That one had not progressed enough recovering his memories to be here yet. And the boy...wait! This was the boy who had nearly deceived him once before. His eyes narrowed. 

-------- 

As before, when he approached the tablet of the Dark Magician, magic swirled incarnating the Dark Magician before him. Yugi's knees sagged that the Dark Magician was purple, not red. Anxiously, Yugi looked up, into the remote, nearly reproving eyes of Mahaad. 

"Mahaad!" Yugi charged forward joyfully. 

The Dark Magician leveled his staff and shot a blindingly intense Dark Magic attack directly at Yugi, lifting him from the floor to crash against the tablet of the Summoned Skull, blasting the life from him. Yugi fell hard to the cold, stone ground and lay ominously still. 

"I am the Guardian Dark Magician." 

Mana and Akai rushed over to help Yugi. 

"He's, he's...!" 

"He's not breathing." Akai's voice was calmer than Mana's, but anxiety rimmed his eyes. 

"Get him out of here!" Yami commanded, as his appearance changed. Gold gleamed in the headdress he suddenly wore, and at his arms and wrists. His eyes narrowed and darkened as he pulled himself up to glare at the creature who had just inexplicably attacked, if not killed, Yugi. 

"My Pharaoh." The Dark Magician inclined his head slightly, a tacit gesture of submissive respect. "It is not yet time for you to pass. I will be compelled to attack you, too, if you attempt it." 

Yami, Pharaoh Yami, made an crisp, dismissive gesture, contemptuously pushing that notion aside. "You have more pressing worries to concern yourself with. I am not trying to get past you. I will destroy you for hurting Yugi." Yami promised in a dark tone. 

"Really? When I am only following the destiny you wrought for me?" 

"Explain." Yami demanded brusquely. 

"I am to guard this door, and the knowledge behind it, until the time ordained. Even then, only those destined to learn this knowledge can pass. Until that time, I am to guard this pathway against all who attempt to cross." The Dark Magician crossed his arms, not-so-subtly reminding Yami that he held a lethal Dark Magic staff. 

"Even me?" 

"Even you." 

"Yugi wasn't trying to pass. He was trying to approach you." Yami told him tightly. 

"Me? Really? Why?" It tore Yami's heart to see the puzzled head-tilt that Mahaad would have used executed by this heartless parody of his friend. There was no way he'd believe that Mahaad could ever be compelled to attack Yugi! 

"You are Mahaad, are you not?" 

"Yes...but only in part. I am the Guardian Dark Magician. My duty is to guard this pathway against all who would cross it undestined, or prematurely." 

Yami gazed with veiled horror at the remote aspect the Guardian Dark Magician presented. His form was Mahaad's as was his face and power, but the soul... 

The soul of the being who appeared to be Mahaad was as cold as the deepest, most forsaken tomb. 

"Mahaad...so...we find you only to lose you forever. And it was me who doomed you with this destiny...and I don't even remember why..." In his Pharaoh demeanor, though his words were full of ultimate despair, Yami refused to weaken. 

-------- 

Though they had met him in the corridor at the door to Yami's mind, it didn't seem like the right place to take him. Akai bore the limp Yugi in his arms, so it was Mana who put a tentative hand to the door to Yugi's mind room. 

"Another door," she observed. Akai nodded. 

"If he's locked it..." she started. 

"Try to open it," Akai suggested. 

Mana's hand dropped to the knob. She turned it, expecting to feel the resistance of a locked door, so when it opened, she stumbled a few steps into the room. Akai followed, carrying Yugi in his arms. 

Mana smiled. Yugi's room was bright, filled with a cheerful light. There were toys and games strewn all around. She reached down to pick up a plushie from the floor. It was a fierce teddy bear, dressed in a street tough's leather jacket. 

"I wonder what this means to him," she whispered. 

Akai also delighted in the appearance of the room, the representation of Yugi's mind, but put it aside for other, graver concerns. He noticed a bed, and placed Yugi there. He reached down and covered Yugi with the blanket neatly folded at the foot of the bed. 

"He appears to be dead," Akai finally stated it aloud. 

"He, he can't be! His room is still here!" 

Akai stood at that and looked out into Yugi's mind room, studying it for a while. Mana knelt at Yugi's side, and stroked the hair back from his face. She placed the back of her hand against his cheek, alarmed at how cool he felt. 

"The edges are disappearing," Akai noted. His voice was light, but laced with sorrow. "There's nothing we can do to revive him. Mana, I don't know for sure, but I believe he's really dead." 

"No," Mana whispered in horror. "Not that way! Not by the magic of the Dark Magician. It's so...wrong!" 

-------- 

Within the person of the Guardian Dark Magician, Mahaad felt a faltering. It was the tiniest lessening of the confidence in the rightness of his actions that the Guardian Dark Magician felt. Suddenly, the iron control on him slipped, just enough for him to speak directly to the one he was somehow merged into. 

_ "Is this...the only way? Is it our destiny...my destiny to cause pain to my Pharaoh and destroy one of the friends he loves so dearly?"___

_ "None may pass until the appointed time..."___

_ "They aren't trying to pass. They are only trying to recover...me."___

_ "..."_

"Is that the truth?" the Guardian Dark Magician asked aloud. 

"Is what the truth?" Yami asked, puzzled. 

"You are only here to rescue the soul of the one who has joined with me?" 

"Yes. We are not trying to learn the secret you are guarding. We only want to save Mahaad." 

"I see." 

Within, the Guardian Dark Magician asked. 

_ "You know that your destiny is to be one with me when the ordained time comes?"___

_ "I suspect that now, after finding myself here. I realize who you are, and what your duty is."___

_ "There is no reason for me to hold your soul captive until then. Until the fated time, you can live the destiny you crafted for yourself."_

Mahaad felt a rush of gratitude. He had the idea that the Guardian Dark Magician was more isolated than any other duel monster. Sleeping except for when his corridor was breached... 

_ "Not so. I guide and direct the Pharaoh's wanderings within the labyrinth of his mind. There is an order that must be maintained to the regaining of his memories."___

_ "But enough of that. If he can devise a means to rescue you, I will let you go."_

"Mahaad understands, and wishes to leave, until the time ordained for him to become one with me for good. It is up to you, my Pharaoh, to free him from me," the Guardian Dark Magician said aloud. 

"Yugi...met you here in this corridor when Shadi entered our mind. But, Mahaad was the Dark Magician of Yugi's deck at that time..." Yami pondered. "So, Mahaad, you aren't the Guardian Dark Magician. You don't have to be part of him!" 

"I promise I am not trying to discover the secret of the room you are guarding. I only wish to recover my friend, Mahaad, from being part of you. Will you permit me to approach?" Yami finally asked the Guardian Dark Magician directly. 

A grave nod and the lowering of the Dark Magic staff gave him permission. 

"Can you tell me how I can recover him?" Yami craned his neck up to look into the eyes of this ultimate duel monster. 

The Guardian Dark Magician shook his head. 

"That is for you to fathom, my Pharaoh. Only you would have the power to pull him away from me." 

"Pull....away?" Yami echoed. It seems almost as if the Guardian Dark Magician were trying to give him a clue, despite telling him that he wouldn't. Yami remained in thought for a moment that seemed eternal. 

"I do not know you, Guardian Dark Magician, so I would have no reason to offer a token of friendship and affection to you. However, may I ask your assistance?" Yami ventured finally. 

The Guardian Dark Magician nodded. 

"Upon my honor, I promise that once I recover Mahaad, both of us will quit this corridor and trouble you no more." Yami vowed. 

The Guardian Dark Magician shook his head. "But trouble me you must, for it is your destiny. Rather, promise that you will not seek this corridor again until the time is right," he suggested. 

Yami nodded. "As you say, then. Will you assist me?" 

The Guardian Dark Magician nodded again, then spoke. "You will have but one chance, my Pharaoh. If Mahaad returns with me to the tablet, as you have sworn to not provoke me, Mahaad's fate with be forever sealed within mine. Do you understand?" 

Yami nodded. 

"Then, decide what you must do, and tell me when you wish me to return to my sleep." 

"One cannot easily hold a soul... My grasp must be true!" 

Yami stepped forward. The Millennium Puzzle glowed and suddenly Yami found himself to be the same size as the Guardian Dark Magician. He looked deeply into the duel monster's eyes, searching for even the tiniest gleam of his friend's consciousness there. Finding none, he sighed, but reached his arms around the Guardian Dark Magician anyway. 

"Mahaad, return to us. Return to your friends in the Magic Box, return to your place in our duels, return to Yugi...return to me. I don't know what else to try, so I hope you can feel my arms around you, my embrace, and help me to be strong enough to hold you here. Please, use ever bit of your will, and your heart, to stay in my arms. I miss you, my friend. Please, return to us. Return...to me." 

Yami didn't know at what point the tears began to flow, but his face was wet when his words finally stopped. His throat tightened so much with emotion that he couldn't speak, but it seemed as if the time was right. Though he hadn't been able to say anything, a massive purple flare erupted in his arms and the Guardian Dark Magician's head slumped to his shoulder as the duel monster went limp. 

Yami kept his arms tightly closed as he was buffeted by the energy. He only hoped he was strong enough to hold Mahaad during this intense spiritual storm. 

His eyes widened as he realized why the magic flare seemed familiar. It was exactly like the power that Arcana had attacked him with in their duel, after he stripped the souls of his monsters with the Ectoplasmer card. During the duel with Arcana, somehow Mahaad had been able to use the bilateral effect of the card to make his own soul a defense against the attack of Arcana's Dark Magician's soul. If Mahaad had not realized he could do that and become a soul shield, Yami, and Yugi, would have been killed in that duel. 

The purple energy pulled free from the Dark Magician collapsed in Yami's arms and swirled for a moment in front of him before floating into the tablet of the Dark Magician. 

Yami felt as the Dark Magician still held tightly in his embrace drew a deep, shuddering breath and stood up. Yami dropped his arms and stepped back. 

"He gave it...to me?! He gave me my destiny back!" 

"M,Mahaad? Is it...you?" Yami had to ask. 

For an answer, the Dark Magician straightened, gripped his staff resolutely, looked into his eyes, and smiled. Yami smiled back delightedly, unmistakably recognizing his friend in that smile. 

Mahaad nodded. He turned to place one palm against the stone. "I will return here to be one with him when it is time for you to open that door," Mahaad nodded down the hallway. "It is my destiny. But that time is not now. Seeing how all of you were so concerned for me, he decided to release me until that time comes." 

"He...attacked Yugi," Yami told him in a voice thick with strain. 

"Yes..." Mahaad's hand still rested lightly upon the Dark Magician tablet. He closed his eyes. 

"He's...sorry for that. Yugi had appeared once before in this hallway..." Yami shivered, realizing that Mahaad was communing somehow with the spirit of the Guardian Dark Magician. "Even though the time wasn't right, he almost let Yugi pass, since Yugi was so sincere. Afterward, he realized what a mistake that would have been, and vowed to not be fooled by Yugi again. So, when Yugi approached..." 

"He attacked him...out of fear? He must feel his duty very strongly." Yami finished. "I had Mana and Akai take Yugi out of here for safety. Do you think he's okay?" 

Mahaad looked up, directly into Yami's eyes, and shook his head. 

"No, my Pharaoh. The Dark Magic attack Yugi suffered..." 

Mahaad couldn't hold Yami's gaze. His head dropped. Yami had never seen the Dark Magician, or Mahaad, wear this sort of demeanor before. He appeared defeated. 

"Yugi has been slain, my Pharaoh." 

"What?!" 

----------------------   
Author's notes - 

::grin:: So, is everyone happy now? Both Akai and Mahaad are back! 

::sigh:: Of course, now I've gone and killed little Yugi... 

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Fourteen - Destroying the Shadows 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde(at)stargarde.com


	14. Destroying the Shadows

**Chapter Fourteen - Destroying the Shadows**

_ "No, my Pharaoh. The Dark Magic attack Yugi suffered..."___

_ Mahaad couldn't hold Yami's gaze. His head dropped. Yami had never seen the Dark Magician, or Mahaad, wear this sort of demeanor before. He appeared defeated.___

_ "Yugi has been slain, my Pharaoh."___

_ "What?!"_

The tablet of the Dark Magician flashed purple. Mahaad turned and placed his palm upon it once more. 

"He's very sorry. Of course, I am too. I was powerless in the merge, unable to do anything to stop it. I am..." 

Yami chuckled softly, sadly. "Mana, Akai, you...now Yugi. I might have come from a death-obsessed culture, but this is becoming too much even for me!" Yami's appearance blurred, shifting from his Pharaoh mien back to his regular mode. 

Mahaad's eyes were curiously soft as he regarded his friend. Things _had_ been rough on him lately. Mahaad could sense the disquiet in Yami and immediately began to plan some way to bring him peace. 

"We should find Mana and Akai. You go on ahead. There is something I must do here." Mahaad used his best 'advisor' voice, honed millennia ago in the land of Pharaohs, knowing that Yami usually accepted such suggestions easily. 

"What?" Yami asked. 

"I can help you better in attaining your destiny if I understand my own better. Once I leave, I won't have this opportunity again," he nodded toward the tablet of the Dark Magician. "So, I best ask my questions now." 

Yami nodded that he understood, turned and walked away from the Guardian Dark Magician's hallway. 

"This body. It will take you great energy to form another from the stone," Mahaad ventured, directing his attention toward the Dark Magician spirit residing in the tablet under his hand. 

_ "No matter. I trust you will be able to right the wrong I have committed with the power I left for you there. Truly, I am sorry. I should have fully understood the young one's purpose before I struck."_

Mahaad waited, agreeing with the spirit of the Guardian Dark Magician, but too mannered to 'say' anything out loud. 

The spirit laughed anyway, sensing his agreement. _"That tact! You know I mean them no harm."_

Mahaad nodded, and agreed internally to share that agreement with the Guardian Dark Magician. "I know. They will know too. Trust me." 

_ "I do. And I will wait patiently for the proper time for us, the First Dark Magician and the Last, to be one and open the way for destiny to end the painful cycle for the Pharaoh."_

The spirit paused. Mahaad could tell he was reflecting upon the destiny that would one day merge fully with Mahaad's. 

_ "But for now, take care of him, and his young 'partner' in the outside world, while I tend to and direct his wanderings within."_

Mahaad nodded. "Of course. Let me handle it." 

The Guardian Dark Magician's spirit sank deeper into his magic, or deeper into the stone, Mahaad wasn't certain which, but he knew further attempts to communicate would be unanswered. 

"No matter," he echoed the Guardian. "He's given me all I need for now." 

He turned and followed the path Yami had taken, out of the corridor and into the maze of Yami's mind. As always, when he visited here, Yami's presence was a bright beacon that Mahaad could sense and lock onto, giving him an uncanny ability to thread the maze with ease. 

"Or maybe that's one of the Guardian Dark Magician's gifts too," Mahaad wondered. He smiled with satisfaction as he found the door that lead to the corridors between minds. 

-------- 

Mahaad paused on the threshold into Yugi's mind. Unlike the pharaoh's labyrinth, which made one want to talk in hushed voices or gesture to communicate so as to not break the somber silence, Yugi's room was bright and airy, making Mahaad think that laughter would be welcome here. It was a play room, filled with toys and games. Yugi's room invited where Yami's forebode. 

He entered, carefully stepping around or over the stuffed toys strewn with careless artistry across the floor. He paused at a low table where a chess game in progress waited for players. He itched to reach down and move the knight for the black side, but refrained. Such an action might have a deep significance to Yugi, the consequence of which Mahaad didn't know. 

Yami, Mana and Akai were clustered around a bed where they had placed Yugi and hadn't noticed Mahaad enter. He took the opportunity to examine Yugi's mind-room carefully, extrapolating what he could about Yugi from how his mind depicted reality. 

"A boy with a simple and generous heart," Mahaad thought to himself. "And a quick intellect," he added, noticing a partially solved jigsaw puzzle spread upon the floor. The eight foot puzzle was being solved from the edges in. "He might be simple hearted, but he, himself, certainly isn't simple!" 

Around the very edges of Yugi's mind, the light faltered, reminding Mahaad quite strongly of Yami's dark and shadowed mind. 

He looked closely, deeply into the shadowed outer corners of Yugi's mind, reading, even as they slowly disappeared, some of the deep truths of Yugi's soul. He knew that his was Yugi's favorite card, but here, where no secrets can hide and untruths shrivel and die, he could not flinch from learning exactly what that meant to Yugi. 

A nightmare shadow sparked and flared as the entropy of Yugi's death caught it. Mahaad watched as a cold heartless version of himself as the Dark Magician turned and forsook Yugi. Further he could read that it was not the action, but the coldness in the Dark Magician of the dream that held the true horror for Yugi. In another nightmare, Yugi found he wasn't strong enough to help Yami in his destiny, instead dragging his partner down to his final death. 

Someone walked up behind him. Mahaad concealed his smile, as without even turning around, he knew it was Yami. 

"There are far too many shadows in his mind," Mahaad observed admonishingly. 

Evidently, Yami felt a stab of guilt at that. 

"My fault..." 

Mahaad turned and fixed an understanding, yet chiding eye on him. "No. Don't think that way. It is merely the effect of the destiny you share with him. It is not your fault." Mahaad told him. "However, it is not right to permit such shadows to grow when there is a way to stop them." 

Yami glanced up sharply into Mahaad's eyes. Mahaad struggled to maintain his deadpan expression against the hope that suddenly shone like a quiet light in Yami's eyes. 

Having seen all he needed to know about Yugi's mind, Mahaad walked toward the bed placed a little bit away from the toy filled section of Yugi's mind. Mahaad could easily extrapolate that the bed is where Yugi would go to wrestle with complicated problems and moral dilemmas, away from the distractions of his mental toys. Or perhaps it was the tool he used to try to calm his mind down from worrying about things. Right now, he wasn't worrying about anything, lying all too still upon the bed where Mana and Akai had placed him. Mahaad's heart twisted that Yugi had suffered so much. 

"Mana?" 

"Yes, Master?" 

"I believe you once said something about teaching me the whimsy of magic?" 

Mana gasped. She'd never said that, she'd only thought it while grasping tightly to the thread of Mahaad's magic! 

Mahaad smiled gravely down at her before tipping her helmet to one side. 

"I am too old and settled to gain any benefit from your...lessons. I've found a place more in need of your whimsical touch." 

"Where?" Mana struggled to right her helmet again. 

"Right here. Yugi is too absorbed in matters of destiny. There are too many shadows growing in this room. I would ask that you and Akai make it your special task to help Yugi push back these shadows." 

"But, but...Yugi's dead!" Mana protested. 

"Well, yes. But we are in a place of mind. If Yugi were utterly departed, all of his room would have already ceased to exist, as Yami's would be the only spirit left." 

"So you can bring him back?" Akai realized. 

Mahaad looked seriously into his eyes and nodded. "I believe I can." 

"Why have you not yet done so?!" Yami demanded. 

"All of you, look. The center of Yugi's room, the center of his mind, is bright. That is the truest expression of Yugi's soul. Most of his mind is filled with areas of light and shadow, the culmination of the events of his life, which is normal, and finally, only on the outside edges, an area of distressing blackness." 

"That area is what I am concerned about. Such blackness is not normal in anyone who is as filled with light as Yugi. And it is recent, which is why it's toward the outside. I've been studying it while I've been here; that blackness is filled with worries, nightmares, and anxieties. I thought..." Mahaad faltered. 

"You thought to let the darkest shadows slip away, so Yugi wouldn't have to deal with them anymore," Yami finished softly. 

"And Mana and I can make certain somehow that they don't grow again," Akai nodded his understanding. 

"How?" Mana asked, as tears filled her eyes. She was upset that Yugi had been dealing with something like this blackness all on his own. 

"Is this not a nice place, except for the darkest shadows?" Mahaad asked. "I believe that with Yami's permission, you and Akai will be able to return here. Not often, since Yugi does have a life, apart from the Shadow Games to live, but every once in a while when we can tell that he's starting to feel down for too long, or worrying too much. I suspect Yugi would welcome your visits. And I trust you two will find a way to help him break the shadows." 

"Hmmmm...." Mana walked rather theatrically toward the brightest part in the center of the room. "I wonder..." 

She locked her gaze on Mahaad's face with a broadly teasing look and gripped her wand tight. Both Mahaad and Akai could sense that she was trying to do something with her Dark Magic, something neither of them had felt before. She gasped, and redoubled her effort. 

Suddenly, Akai had a flash of inspiration. He pushed his staff into Mahaad's arms to hold for him, walked up next to Mana, and grasped her wand around her hands, sending his Dark Magic into it for her to tap. 

The strain around her eyes lightened and disappeared as Akai's assistance helped her to complete her spell. 

In the very center of Yugi's room, something little, and fuzzy, and purple, appeared. 

"What...?" Yami walked over and picked it up. He turned it around, looked closely at it, and started to laugh. He grinned delightedly before tossing it over to Mahaad. 

Mahaad, quite curious from Yami's reaction, looked at the thing himself. It was little. It was cute. It was a faithful duplicate of him, armor, helmet, staff, disgruntled look and all, in a fuzzy miniature form. 

"Mana?" he asked incredulously. 

"A plushie. Of you. For him," Mana replied seriously, pointing to other 'plushies' in Yugi's mind-room before sticking out her tongue at him. 

"A little respect, that's all I ask!" Mahaad groaned. 

Mana blinked up at him deliberately. 

"Will he not like it?" 

"I'm sure Yugi will like it." 

"Will it not lighten his mood?" 

Mahaad looked down at the silly little thing again. 

"Alas, I'm certain it will." 

"Well then, what's the problem?" 

"No problem, you troublemaker!" 

Mahaad smiled down approvingly at his impish apprentice, pleased despite his reaction that Mana had grasped the heart of his idea to help Yugi so easily. 

He gazed toward the outer regions of Yugi's mind, judging the rate of dissolution of the darkness. 

"Come, I think we've let enough of the shadows slide into oblivion. It is time to revive him," Mahaad decided. 

He knelt next to where Mana and Akai placed him, stroking his left hand gently through Yugi's hair to come to rest on the top of his head, while his right hand came to rest gracefully over Yugi's heart. He reached down deep into the power the Guardian Dark Magician had left in him specifically for this purpose, triggered it, and poured the restoring Dark Magic into Yugi. 

"Return, little one, your time to leave is not yet come." 

Yami's eyes widened as the Millennium Puzzle around Yugi's neck, as well as the one around his own, pulsed in time with a glow from Mahaad's hand. Yugi's eyes blinked, then opened. Mahaad helped him to sit up. 

"Yugi!" Yami rudely pushed Mahaad aside and grasped Yugi's shoulders. "Are you all right?!" 

Yugi just blinked up at him with a vacuous smile on his face. 

---------------------   
Author's notes - 

::ducks thrown rocks, bricks and boulders:: 

I _swear_ this is the last twist of the story and the last character I put into peril! I hope the ending of the chapter was a bit of a surprise. I do so loathe becoming predictable. Cliffhangers? ::laughs evilly:: Dear readers, I've thrown you all into free fall! Nevertheless, I honestly did not intend to write so much with this story. I thank all of you for hanging in there with me. 

I also want to thank the person who reviewed my story way back when (or perhaps it was in the reviews for Rebellion) who 'gave' me an Akai plushie. Obviously the image of a Dark Magician plushie very much appeals to me! 

The next chapter might be pushing the envelope a little bit (as if the entire story wasn't already doing just that!) but I hope you enjoy it anyway. 

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Fifteen - Magic Box Duel 

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get! 

stargarde(at)stargarde.com


	15. Magic Box Duel

**Chapter Fifteen - Magic Box Duel**

"Mahaad! What's happened? Why is Yugi like this?!"

"You let too much of him slip away!" Mana cried out.

Mahaad looked about Yugi's mind-room again, concerned himself, then shook his head.

"No, it was only some of the worry and nightmares I allowed to go. He shouldn't be like this."

As one, Mana, Mahaad and Akai turned their heads, as if each suddenly heard his or her name called.

"Did you..."

"...feel that?"

Mahaad began to laugh with a nearly hysterical fervor. There was humor in his laughter, but also a tone of surprised relief. Truly, it had been a rough ordeal on everyone, himself included! The concern in Yami's eyes finally caught his attention, and he calmed down.

"Yugi's fine." Mahaad told him. "We," he indicated Mana and Akai, "can tell. And we," this time Mahaad's gesture included Yami, "should have known. Right now, Yugi's heart is divided most strongly between his concern for you and..." Mahaad allowed his sentence to trail off leadingly.

"...and the Heart of his Cards!" Yami realized. Mahaad grinned and nodded.

"Part of Yugi's soul is here, but the most interesting part has gone to the Magic Box."

Yami sighed and looked up as if for patience.

"Mahaad, you and I need to somehow or another stop all this chaos," he stated firmly.

"I agree. Cards should be cards, and duelists should be duelists, but, as long as he is in the Magic Box, shall we not take advantage of this unique opportunity?"

Yami's face was stubborn for a moment.

"It won't hurt him?"

"Nothing in my Magic Box will ever hurt Yugi. Or you," Mahaad promised with the utmost sincerity.

Yami sighed.

"And he would like it, wouldn't he?"

"Mana, what are they talking about?" Akai asked.

"I'm not sure, but it seems as if Yugi's soul is in two pieces. Mahaad's not concerned about that, so I'm sure he can bring Yugi back together again."

"Bringing both parts together would do that," Akai nodded. "But what's the discussion about now?"

"Hmm, if I'm guessing right, the part of Yugi in the Magic Box right now is the active part."

Mahaad overheard and nodded.

"And what is the Magic Box a refuge for?" he asked.

Akai grinned.

--------

As soon as they appeared within the Magic Box, purple light swirled around Mahaad. He slumped to his knees, catching himself on his hands as his strength gave out.

"Mahaad!" Akai, Mana and Yami cried out, as with one voice. Yami knelt to offer whatever support and assistance he could. The strange purple light seemed to gather itself and dart upward, losing itself in the brightness of the sky of the Magic Box.

"Are you all right?" Yami asked, grasping Mahaad's arm.

"Yes," Mahaad nodded. "I felt a bit weak, but I'm fine now." He reached down as if to leverage himself up from the ground, but stopped, as Yami was still holding his arm.

"My Pharaoh?"

Yami's eyes widened.

"Mahaad..." he squeezed his friend's bicep slightly, to draw Mahaad's attention down.

"What is going on?" Mahaad demanded, noticing, as Yami intended, the gold armlet he wore.

"Master?!" Mana asked incredulously. "You, you...how did you...?"

"What's wrong?" Akai asked with more coherence.

"Mahaa...my master now looks as he used to before...well, before he became the Dark Magician!" Mana explained.

Mahaad stood, arrayed in the white and gold raiment and headdress of the priest he had been in Yami's court in the days of ancient Egypt. He cupped his chin thoughtfully.

"I have been able to resume this appearance, with the pharaoh's permission..."

"More like insistence," Yami interjected.

"...when I've been allowed to meet with him in the labyrinth of his mind. There, as it is his mind, such a thing is possible. I am at a loss to explain my appearance now. It is not something I willed," Mahaad finished.

"No matter. I will..." Mahaad closed his eyes, concentrating.

After a long moment, he opened them again. Worry added a slight hint of strain around his eyes.

"Something is wrong. I cannot become the Dark Magician. Further, I cannot even feel the force of Dark Magic, even as I used to in Egypt before I first became the Dark Magician."

"Oh, no!" Mana cried out fearfully. "Master, what does that mean?! What will happen to you now?"

Mahaad opened his arms. Mana accepted the tacit invitation, stepping into his embrace so he could comfort her. Akai's eyes widened, as he'd never seen Mahaad behave in so approachable a manner before, though Yami seemed to think nothing of it.

"I don't know, Mana. But we have a more important concern to hurdle first. What has happened to me can wait. We need to find Yugi," he reminded them as he released Mana from his brief hug.

Mana blinked back her tears of worry, nodded and stepped back to stand next to Akai.

"Right. Can you tell where he is?" Yami asked, looking toward the stand of trees obscuring the atelier from view. He noticed movement and narrowed his gaze until he recognized the Celtic Guardian approaching.

The elven Guardian neared, his eyes widening only slightly before he recognized Mahaad through his friend's changed appearance.

"Where is he, Celedor?" Mahaad asked.

"Yugi's here. But tell me; why is he the Dark Magician?"

Mahaad and Yami traded glances. Yami smiled. "We should have known."

Mahaad nodded. "That explains why I changed too. I can't be the Dark Magician at the same time he is."

"So...what happened that he has become the Dark Magician instead of you?" Celedor wondered. But, don't worry, he will be our duelist again. Until then, we should let him enjoy being the Dark Magician again."

Celedor nodded. "He would like that."

"To that end, we should have a duel."

"A duel? Here? How?"

"Trust me. Could you three," Mahaad's glance singled out Akai, Mana and Celedor, "gather all the monsters to the field outside the atelier? And make certain you bring Yug...ah, the Purple Dark Magician!"

--------

"Well then," Mahaad pulled himself up to his full height. Yugi looked around at all the duel monsters standing in the ring with him around Mahaad and Yami. He glanced down where his purple gauntlet-clad hand grasped a green staff and couldn't help but shudder at the awesomeness of it all.

A second green staff crossed playfully over his, forcing him to look up. Akai smiled down at him.

"It seems we are to partner as Dark Magicians again, Yugi." Akai nodded his approval. "It is a good look for you."

"R-really?" Yugi looked over again at Mahaad, who even now seemed to pull energy to himself from the very air of the Magic Box.

Akai followed Yugi's gaze. "Yes, even as how that is a good look for Mahaad."

"I was so jealous of him once. Even in the duel where I fought for Arcana, I could tell that he, your Dark Magician, had your respect. I envied that. And once I was brought here, into your deck and into the Magic Box, I could tell how the duel monsters of your deck respected him too. All I wanted to do was one thing; perform one action not expected - not commanded by you, to earn your respect, and the respect of your cards."

"But, I've always respected you!"

"I know that now, but when I first came here..." Akai shrugged, then shook his head, evidently pitying who he had been.

"Mahaad tried so hard, the cards united their power too, even you and Yami came here, all to bring me back. It was then that I realized I had your respect, and the respect of Mahaad and all your cards."

Akai's smile was uncomplicatedly joyful. After a moment, it faded.

"And in saving me, you lost Mahaad. I thought that for certain that you and the cards would hate me; since I was a poor trade for Mahaad."

Yugi shook his head. "That's not..."

"I know. It was Yami who named me, but I know that I was never just 'a' Dark Magician to you. I was...myself... Akai, the 'Red Dark Magician' and never just a 'back up' Dark Magician. I am glad to be a card in your deck, Yugi. I am honored to have fought alongside you before, and evidently again today. I know that I have your respect and further..."

"You are my friend, Akai," Yugi said softly.

Akai nodded. "Somehow I knew you would say that. I am honored to be your friend too."

"Are you two finished?" a dry voice demanded from directly in front of them. Both jumped and looked up guiltily as if they'd been caught passing notes in class. Mahaad's expression was stern, but his eyes twinkled.

"Your right hand, if you please, Akai," Mahaad gestured. Akai gave him his right hand without question. Mahaad turned Akai's hand palm up then passed his hand over it. A subtle flash of magic left something in its wake. Akai brought it up to look at it, and realized it was his card, the card of the Red Dark Magician.

"Yugi? Your right hand, please," Mahaad turned slightly to face Yugi.

Having just watched what happened, Yugi presented his hand palm up. Mahaad grasped Yugi's hand between both of his, invoking the same flash of magic. Curious, Yugi lifted the card to see the Purple Dark Magician's image depicted there. He gasped, and brought the card closer to inspect it.

On the card, it was Yugi's face in the Dark Magician's helm.

"Th-that's...!"

"Of course it's you, Yugi. You are the Purple Dark Magician now," Mahaad told him coolly before turning to the monster next to him. Akai plucked the card from Yugi's hand, to examine the image more closely himself.

"I told you it was a good look for you!" Akai teased before handing the card back.

"Now each of you is holding his, or her, card. Once you are selected, please give that card to the duelist who chose you. After all the Duel Monsters have been separated, we will be able to begin this duel."

"Duel?"

"Who's going to...?"

"What's going on?"

"Why is there a duel?"

"There can't be a duel here!"

The gathered monsters of Yugi's deck commenced a low murmuring hubbub as each monster turned to his or her neighbor and expressed amazement in hushed or whispered tones.

"Everyone, please! Calm down. There's nothing to be concerned about," Yami reassured.

"Since Yugi is currently the Purple Dark Magician, we thought to hold a duel here, where there's no danger, before everything is finally restored to the way it's supposed to be. That is, if it is okay with you, Yugi?"

Yugi beamed. To be able to duel with, that is, alongside, his duel monsters?! Yami knew his heart well enough to know it would be a dream come true for him. He nodded enthusiastically. Yami and Mahaad smiled at his eagerness.

"Well, okay, since you are here, Yami, and Yugi is the Dark Magician, but, who will the other duelist be?" Rowan wondered.

"Since there is only one Purple Dark Magician in Yugi's deck, and right now that is not me, I thought I could serve as Yami's opponent," Mahaad bowed.

"Mahaad?!" Yugi gasped.

Mahaad smiled and nodded.

"Oh!"

Yami noticed the stars dancing in his partner's eyes. Mahaad had assured him that nothing would ever hurt Yugi here in the Magic Box. He knew that they'd finally followed the last twist of the coil, threaded the last path of the labyrinth, as it were, to find the end of the ordeal that had been plaguing them. Why not let Yugi enjoy the joy of this moment? Why not let someone else, someone he trusted in the past, and trusted still now, decide the shape of this duel?

"Mahaad, why don't you pick the first card? The first choice is yours."

Yugi's expression washed away at that. Too often, far too often, he'd been in this very situation. Painful reality mocked his happiness of only the moment before. Anytime he was in a group from which teams were to be selected, he'd been chosen last; or in those cases where there was an odd number, not at all. All too often he'd been forced to sit on the sidelines and watch while others had fun in some sport or activity, and not be a part of it.

_"It's time to choose sides. I'll go first! I take...Hiro!"_

_"I'll take Joey!"_

_"Pierre!"_

_"Tristan!"_

_Yugi waited, his heart pounding harder and harder each time the captains made their choice. Surely his name would be called soon! There were so few of them left, now only three, now two..._

_"Oh, we counted wrong. All the teams are filled. You can watch us play if you want, Motou!"_

The boys had laughed at him then...and again, and again whenever this cruel scene played out. Yugi had learned to not even try, instead, doing something on his own, such as reading a book. Over time, this isolation evolved into bringing his deck of cards to school to devise new combinations and strategies for Duel Monsters. Sometimes he had wondered why he did, as he knew no one would ever play with him, but there was still something soothing about the cards, reading and memorizing their descriptions and pictures, and learning how best to use them.

The Dark Magician. He'd never feel like crying if the boys pulled their cruel pranks on him! He'd blast them into next week with Dark Magic if they tried! Yugi stared down at the card in his hand, the one showing a Dark Magician bearing his face and promised he would not let his hopes rise as they always did during the choosing of sides. That way, it wouldn't hurt as much when he was selected last. Wait! Just how many monster cards were in his deck? Was it an even number? He might not be chosen at all...

"Yugi!"

Yugi's head snapped up as his train of thought derailed. What did Mahaad want?!

Mahaad smiled at him. "I want you for my side. I thought it best to choose you first, so that Yami wouldn't have a chance. He always selects the best players right away, if memory serves."

Yami's eyes narrowed at his friend. "I had hoped you would pick Mana first!" he growled in mock-displeasure, though there was a note of true irritation in his tone.

Yugi looked blankly into Mahaad's eyes. He was never selected first! He had no idea what to do!

Mahaad gestured for him to come over, smiled and gently took the Dark Magician card from Yugi's hand.

"I'm going to need this," Mahaad told Yugi. "Hmm...this will be different from the duels you are used to. Since the entire game will be played here, there's no graveyard to send defeated cards to. So, I guess all of you 'monsters'," Mahaad grinned into Yugi's eyes, "will need to stand around the dueling field until called into play, once we start. Until then, why not just stand here on my side?"

Yugi suddenly grinned up at Mahaad. How had he known? How had Mahaad known that this duel could ease the pain and erase the bitterness of always being chosen last, or not at all?

"Well, then," Yami decided. "I'll take Akai."

Oh. That meant Yugi would be fighting against Akai and not with him. Could Yugi fight against his friend? Mahaad told him there was no graveyard, but still...

"_Now_ I will select Mana," Mahaad decided gravely.

Mana bounced over, handed her card to Mahaad and threw her arms around Yugi.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she exclaimed. "I get to be on your side, and fight on my master's team!"

"Curse of Dragon," Yami selected. "Please fight for my side."

"Hmm, you got Garunon. I'd better select...Shelleene!" Mahaad called out.

"Then I should take Everon, the Summoned Skull and see how these two friends fare when faced off against each other."

"Grrr!" Shelleene glared at Everon fiercely. To Yugi's delight and Yami's amusement, Everon held up his hands and ducked as if shying from Shelleene's gaze.

-----

Yami smiled as he looked up. The cards in his hands disappeared as the duel ended. He had a chance to glance over and meet Mahaad's eyes, his slight, rueful nod his acknowledgment of Mahaad's win in their duel, before Mahaad was mobbed by all the monsters of Yugi's deck.

"So, did you have fun?" Yami asked, striding up to where Yugi stood on the impromptu dueling field as the monster who had taken the last of his life points.

"Yami!" There was an undercurrent of anguish in Yugi's tone. Yami smiled, then grinned. He placed an arm around Yugi's purpled-armored shoulders, and turned him around.

"Look. The monsters are all happy. Mahaad is well, _you_ are well and soon everything will be restored to the proper way of things. My pride is not so high that losing a single duel, to two of my closest friends, is more than I can bear. I didn't try to lose, but I'm not distressed that I did."

Yugi smiled up at him. "It was fun, being the Dark Magician again. And getting to see Mahaad duel! He's really good!"

Reassured that Yugi would know he was just teasing, Yami glared in Mahaad's general direction.

"Trust him to understand the Heart of the Cards as much as we do!"

"More like the heart of the duelist," Akai noted cryptically as he approached.

"I know Mahaad managed to bring you back into play with Reborn the Monster, Yugi, but are you okay from my Magic Box attack?" Akai asked.

Yugi nodded. "Perfectly all right. It's reassuring to know that the attacks look far worse than they feel. It just -- pinched a little. You are okay too, right?"

Akai nodded. "Just pinched a little."

He mocked-glared in Mahaad's direction, even as Yami had. "Trust him, and you," Akai glanced over to Yami, "to manage to pull off something as challenging as having your Dark Magicians cast Magic Box of Death on each other at the same time. Tell me, was it as impressive to watch as I'm imagining it was?"

Yami recalled the pivotal moment in the duel, as it is where he lost his advantage, slim as it was, over Mahaad. The tempo of the battle sequences kept increasing, as attack after attack was countered, or triggered a trap card. It was the type of battle that Yami enjoyed the most, as the duel itself seemed to take on a vibrance and life of its own, separate from the duelists and decks. Since Mahaad wasn't an enemy, and the duel was for fun, it was as if he and Mahaad were spinning a grand story together from the conflict of their cards.

Yami had called it first, slightly reluctant to use the attack on Mahaad's Dark Magician as it _was_ Yugi, but resolved to honor both of his friends by fighting all out, and using the utmost of his skill. So, he set his slight reluctance aside and called for Akai to use the Magic Box magic attack on Yugi.

Mahaad evidently had resolved to fight with the same honor, as an inspired use of magic and trap cards enabled him to have Yugi counter at the same time with the same attack.

So it was that two Magic Boxes materialized on the field and two Dark Magicians floated back to trigger the effect. Each box shimmered, each box was pierced through by the magic swords, the door of each box opened, and the interior of each box revealed a gruesomely impaled Dark Magician. After a moment, the boxes dematerialized, as Akai appeared again in Yami's waiting area while Yugi appeared in Mahaad's "graveyard".

"Very." Yami grinned. "That is your favorite attack, isn't it?"

"To perform, yes. Be taken out of the game with? No -- not at all!" Akai gifted the unaware Mahaad with a sour glare again, before finally sighing.

"Before you have to leave, may I speak with Yugi privately for a moment?" Akai asked.

Yami nodded. He wanted to speak with Mahaad before they left anyway, so he strolled off to where the throng of excited monsters appeared to have no interest in dissipating.

Yugi looked up at Akai, wondering what the Red Dark Magician wanted to talk about.

Akai smiled down at Yugi. Funny how smiles to this one didn't seem forced at all. There was just something about Yugi that made him want to smile. Perhaps it was the brightness of his eyes and the fact he could tell that Yugi would always be candid with him. There would be no tricks or mind-games such as the ones Arcana used to torture him with.

"I bet you are wondering what happened to bring you here," Akai began.

"Do you know, I think Mahaad's Magic Box is probably nearly as powerful as a Millennium Item?" Yugi suddenly asked. He grinned up at Akai.

"We've been tossing about so many powerful forces it's no wonder something like this," Yugi spread his arms to indicate his Dark Magician garb, "happened. Between the magic of the Millennium Puzzle and Mahaad's Box, the Heart of the Cards and the bond Yami and I have, I should count myself lucky this is all that happened to me!" Yugi laughed.

Akai continued to smile down on Yugi. The kid was sharp. He couldn't forget that. He won the duel with Arcana, and Arcana, though Akai despised him, had been an excellent duelist. He nodded.

"There is a power buried in Yami as well. I don't know if it's the full power of the Puzzle, or something else, but we nearly lost you to that power, trying to rescue Mahaad."

Akai wandered over to seat himself on a rock. It was a way for him to stop looming over Yugi and bring them eye to eye. He still wasn't comfortable being that open with others, as of yet, but what he had to tell Yugi was important enough for him to set aside his discomfort.

"When Mahaad and Yami came to your room there was some discussion..." Akai began. Yugi suddenly blushed.

"It's...I could..." Yugi murmured.

"You must have been -- amused to see my room. It's so -- childish."

Akai shook his head, denying Yugi's words. How best to reassure Yugi that he didn't think anything bad about him from seeing his mental room? Maybe just tell him.

"Mana and I were so worried about you, for you seemed to be dead, that we didn't really see much at all. And of what I did notice, I didn't see anything to cause you embarrassment."

Yugi still seemed unhappy. Akai sighed, fearing that he hadn't reassured him at all. Ah well. Back to the more important matter at hand, telling him what Mahaad had done, so it wouldn't be too much of a shock to Yugi when he did finally get to go back there.

"Yami and Mahaad both were worried by the shadows in your mind. It seems as if you were forced to deal with many things that were making you worry too much. Mahaad let as much of the shadows as he dared slip into oblivion before reviving you."

"Really!?" Yugi exclaimed.

Akai nodded. "Of course, then when he did revive you, you pulled whatever trick you did to wind up here," Akai glanced wryly at him, "but I don't blame you. Mahaad's Magic Box is a pretty neat place, isn't it?"

Yugi shook his head. "I didn't do anything to come here, but, thanks for telling me what Mahaad did for me. And thank you for all you've done for me too, Akai."

"I have to take good care of my duelist, don't I? Now that I've found one I want to keep!" he smiled, stood up, nodded and walked off.

Yugi smiled fondly after him. When he had dueled Arcana he never in a million years would have suspected that Arcana's Red Dark Magician was such a nice guy under all his growly resentment. He looked around again. Mahaad had made a wonderful place for the Cards here in his Magic Box. Yugi knew that it had been the strangest of circumstances that allowed him to come here, twice, and that is was unlikely that he'd ever come here again. Still, it was good to know that his cards were in good hands when they weren't in _his_ hands during duels. Now that he'd met them, he was aware that for whatever reason there was, his cards were more than just paint and ink on cardboard, and varying degrees of attack, defense and abilities within the confines of a game. They were...

They were people too. He was glad he'd had a chance to meet them, and realize that.

Yami wandered up at that and placed his arm around Yugi's shoulders again.

"You are going to miss this place, aren't you?" Yami asked softly.

Yugi nodded. "A little. But it's a place Mahaad made for the cards, not for me. Once we finally get everything sorted out, I do have a life, apart from the game, and even apart from the Millennium destiny, to get back to. So, it balances out."

Yugi would never fail to amaze Yami with his seemingly cheerful acceptance of the strange turns of fate.

"I think you've strengthened your bond with the Heart of your Cards," he observed.

"Kinda hard not to, when I'm playing as one of them!" Yugi noted with a laugh.

"True. So, partner, is it time to go home?"

---------------------  
Author's Notes-

Finally! Chapter 15 is finished! ::phew!::

Akai has learned his lesson all too well from Mahaad and Yami. He insisted I write his discussion with Yugi about respect. I wonder if any of the characters respect me?! ::grin::

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Sixteen - Mutual Respect

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


	16. Mutual Respect

::Psst!:: You might want to go back and read Chapter Fifteen again. More of the story was added and Chapter Fifteen is now complete! 

**Chapter Sixteen - Mutual Respect**

Yugi wandered around the room that was once again made bright, touching cherished memories in the form of plushies and toys. He laughed mentally that he was "gathering his mind" as he began to sort everything into its proper place. A little clutter didn't bother him, but having everything out of place made him edgy.

He knew at a glance what each object in his room, toy-like or otherwise, stood for. The blanket on his bed signified his feelings for his grandfather. Whenever he was scared or lonely he had only to think about being wrapped in that blanket to remind himself of his grandfather's love and that comforted him.

And the ballerina was his memory of how he met Tea. The 'tough' teddy bear dressed in a leather jacket was how his friendship with Joey appeared in his mind.

Yugi did a quick mental inventory just to make sure everything he cherished was still here. He didn't mind losing the dark shadows of worry, but he didn't want to have lost any memory important to him either. Despite what Mana and Akai said, Yugi was very embarrassed that they had seen his room. It was one thing for Shadi to glance in, or even for Yami to know what Yugi's mind was like, but quite another for his duel monster friends to know just how much of a child he still was.

"But you are still a child." A calm voice told him.

"Mahaad!" Yugi looked up and flushed crimson. Of all the people to have seen this manifestation of his mind, he was the worst!

"Why?" Mahaad stood respectfully at the open door, waiting to be invited in.

"Because...because..."

"Yugi, don't worry. I'm not going to think any less of you because I've seen the straightforward and commendable simplicity of your mind."

The distressed look failed to leave Yugi's face at Mahaad's reassuring words.

"You are still a child." Mahaad repeated his words. "But you are also a young man. It is one of the most amazing properties of human beings that both statements are equally true."

Yugi still looked unconvinced.

"After the Guardian Dark Magician attacked you, you were brought here. After Yami rescued me from the merge with the Guardian Dark Magician, we followed and came here also. I didn't see one thing wrong with your mental room, except for the shadows of worry gathering too thickly around the edges."

"I know, Akai told me how you got rid of them for me," Yugi admitted. "But now -- being here while you are here and can see all the childish things in my mind -- I feel embarrassed."

"You shouldn't. The light and honesty of your mind is refreshing after Yami's shadowed and tortured labyrinth."

Yugi's eyes dropped at that. It was true, Yami's mind had been just as open as his, and Yami hadn't complained about it.

"Uhm, if you want to come in, you can," Yugi finally offered.

Mahaad smiled at him and bowed before entering.

"I've asked Mana and Akai to pay particular attention to you, so they will know if you start to worry over-much again. Yami has given them permission to enter the corridor and knock on your door if they sense you are getting too anxious."

Yugi let the words drift about in his mind while he looked at his visitor. Mahaad was once again garbed in the purple armor of the Dark Magician, grasping the distinctive green staff of the card monster. Only his eyes, containing a soft regard, were unlike that of the Dark Magician. There was a sense of relief, almost an easing of stress in Yugi to see Mahaad once again as the Dark Magician. The slight, nearly imperceptible brightening of Yugi's mind room wasn't lost on his guest. Mahaad smiled.

"Am I that feeble-minded?" Yugi asked quietly.

"'Feeble-minded'?" Mahaad shook his head firmly. "Nothing could be further from the truth. You've coped with things much better than anyone else I can think of, save one. And your coping as well as you do helps him to cope in turn, I am certain. But there's no need for you to endure it all alone, when it is easy enough for us to help you. You treasure the heart of your cards, Yugi. Understand that because of that, we, your cards, treasure you." Mahaad's expression was earnest.

"So, please allow us to concern ourselves with you, and come to help when we can," Mahaad finished simply. He stared into Yugi's eyes for several seconds so that Yugi could read his sincerity for himself. Yugi wondered if Mahaad was also trying to make up his mind about something.

"And you shouldn't feel embarrassed when we do. For, what could be more embarrassing than this?" Mahaad reached down into a shallow pile of plushie-memories and retrieved a purple toy Yugi'd never seen before. Mahaad deposited it into Yugi's arms.

Yugi looked down at the plush toy, noting the amazing details of the armor and wand. The color of the hair and the typical Mahaad-as-the-Dark-Magician's almost-arrogant expression made Yugi giggle.

"Oh...my!"

"This is not a memory that you made. I worry that you might lose some respect for me because of it, but it was crafted for you, and though it does embarrass me, it is right that you know it is here. Mana made it for you, evidently thinking it would cheer you up." Mahaad paused, reflecting.

"Now that I think about it, Akai helped her with his power. So you see, Yugi, you've got absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about!" Mahaad glowered at the toy and then unconsciously matched its intent, nearly-arrogant expression. Yugi laughed. Mahaad sighed.

"I'm never allowed any dignity. Just a little respect, that's all I ask!" Mahaad's tone was teasing, but there was a hint of longing in the aggrieved note of it too.

"I'll always respect you, Mahaad." Yugi offered quietly. "Probably even more now that you didn't try to hide this from me. The Dark Magician, you -- have always been a-a hero to me. I've wanted to be like you ever since I started playing Duel Monsters. If you can handle being embarrassed gracefully, well, that gives me an example of how to be too, doesn't it? So, if Mana and Akai think they need to come here to help me -- I'll let them in. And, uhm..."

"Yes?"

"If you ever wanted to come back here again, I'll definitely let you in too, Mahaad."

Mahaad smiled at that. "I am certain I will visit you here, Yugi. Just because we are friends."

Mahaad smiled as Yugi's arms tightened just a little around the Dark Magician plushie at that. Strange how he didn't feel quite as embarrassed as he thought he would making sure Yugi knew the toy was here and how it came to be.

"Friends..." Yugi reflected.

"Mahaad?"

Mahaad nodded his attention.

"Uhm, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Yami -- he struggles a little, not nearly as much as me, but some, with worry and nightmares too."

Mahaad knew where this big-hearted young man was going to go with this, but let Yugi ask aloud anyway.

"Well, if Mana and Akai are able to kind of keep an eye out for me -- do you think that you might be able to do the same thing for Yami too?"

"Of course, Yugi. And I've already got my partner for that particular task picked out."

Yugi blinked at him.

"Shall I let my partner in?"

Yugi nodded wordlessly. Mahaad strode to the door, leaned out into the corridor, and beckoned.

"Kwee!" Yugi's Kuriboh rushed through the door and across the room to stroke against Yugi's face.

"Cooo!" Shelleene warbled. She then darted down to stroke against the Dark Magician plushie, then up to the level of the real Mahaad's face.

"Coo?" Shelleene giggled. "Can I tell Everon?"

"Don't you dare! I've already sworn Mana and Akai to secrecy about the silly thing!"

Shelleene bounced in the air and snickered. Mahaad's lips thinned as the slightest rose color crept up his cheeks.

"Shelleene?" Yugi called. Immediately she dashed over to rub against him again.

"Can we keep it a secret just between us? I'd like to have a special secret to share with you!"

"Yes! Secret!"

Mahaad smiled that Shelleene agreed to keep the toy a secret. Yugi reached a tentative hand out to pet his fuzzy Kuriboh. She leaned into his hand, mutely begging more attention. Mahaad merely watched as Yugi's quiet moment with the duel monster most ignored by players delighted the little Kuriboh. That gentle openness was Yugi's greatest strength.

"Mahaad?" Yugi asked, still keeping his attention locked on Shelleene.

"Yes, Yugi?"

"The newest toy in my room -- I'm going to keep it on my pillow. Only those memories most important to me can stay on the bed."

"But, it isn't a memory," Mahaad countered.

"It wasn't, but it is now. It's my room, it's my mind, so -- the memories of all that has happened, realizing how much all of you care for me, and respect me, and how much all of you care for each other, all of that, I'm going to put into the Dark Magician. It's a lot for one toy to hold, but I'm sure this one can take it all." Yugi reached out and hugged the plushie to himself with one hand while still petting the Kuriboh. "He's got a great model, after all."

Yugi sat on the bed in his room and firmly placed the Dark Magician plush toy on the pillow. He slid a sideways glance over to watch Mahaad's reaction.

"I am honored, Yugi," Mahaad said simply.

"If you ever want me to come, just to talk, when things are quiet and you aren't dueling, I have a feeling if you hold it and call my name, I'll somehow know."

"That -- that would be neat," Yugi admitted.

"You do realize that you and I are quite a bit alike, don't you?" Mahaad asked, leaning back in the air as if it were an easy chair and crossing his ankles.

Yugi unconsciously shook his head, disagreeing.

"It's true. Both of us in our turn have been the best friend of the Pharaoh, both of us have had our destinies altered by our contact with him..." Mahaad began.

"...and both of us would have it no other way," Yugi finished. "But, Mahaad -- I, I'm not confident, and powerful, like you are. I don't know what needs to be done or how to do important things -- like make the Magic Box or lead everyone who is there so that they are happy."

Shelleene bobbed in the air excitedly and cooed, dashing over to demand attention from Mahaad before returning to flop into Yugi's lap.

"My destiny calls for me to be that way. I was one of the Pharaoh's advisors in ancient Egypt. I was a powerful magician then, before I ever became this," Mahaad gestured to his appearance now.

"But you are called to be by his side in a different way. You share your life and your mind with him. Your greatest strength is your caring nature and the brightness found in this room. Seeing the light here and knowing that Yami's destiny rests in your caring hands, reassures me that Yami will be all right. If I, as I am now, can help you to help him..." Mahaad paused, smiled warmly into Yugi's eyes and finished, "that's a destiny I can easily live with."

"I help too!" Shelleene declared fiercely. Yugi smiled and rubbed the top of her head fondly. She tried her best to purr.

"You don't think that I...well, supplanted you as Yami's friend, do you? When you said we had been his best friend 'in turn', that is?" Yugi asked quietly, glancing up from petting Shelleene.

Mahaad stiffened, very slightly.

"That's wrong! Yami didn't replace you with me as his best friend! I know that I'm important to him, he always calls me 'partner', but, the friendship you share with him is older and -- deeper."

"I was his servant, Yugi. An advisor, certainly, and I know he respected me, and even liked me, but I was always his servant. You are his partner. And that is the way it is destined to be."

"But, but..."

Mahaad smiled, touched that this mattered so much to Yugi, when really, it was perfectly all right.

"Hmmm, tell you what -- why not allow me to be your advisor too?"

"I feel really bad now! Bossing you around in duels and such..."

"Yugi, stop being ridiculous!" Mahaad nearly snapped, taking the tone with Yugi he so often used with Mana.

Yugi blinked up at him, stunned.

"Are you ready to listen?"

Yugi's eyes were wide and wary as he nodded.

"I am your servant too, when I am the Dark Magician in a duel. It is right that you tell me what to do, and proper for me to obey to the utmost of my ability. The only time I will not obey is if a situation such as that with Arcana happens again, and I am in any way able to do anything to protect you and Yami."

Mahaad looked over to see how Yugi was taking his words. Not so well, from the look on his face.

"Now, what I would like to do is be more than a servant outside of duels. I would like to be your advisor and your friend, Yugi, just as I am with Yami."

"R-really?!"

Mahaad couldn't help but smile at the bright and hopeful face Yugi turned up toward him.

"Really." Mahaad replied firmly.

"Yugi? May I come in?" Yami asked at the door. "Oh, hello, Mahaad."

A streak of brownish-green fur pulled up short in front of Yami's face. "And me! I'm here too!" she puffed herself up and narrowed her eyes in displeasure. Yami smiled, and reached a hand out to pet her.

"Hello, Kuriboh."

"Shel-leene. Not that hard to remember, Pharaoh Master!" Shelleene reproved him.

"You've been hanging out with Mahaad, haven't you, Shelleene?" Yami replied, smiling at her audacious behavior.

Shelleene nodded vigorously. "We take care of you, Pharaoh Master, like Mana and Akai take care of Yugi Master!"

"Oh?" Yami slanted teasingly resigned glance Mahaad's way. "I'm sure the reasoning behind this will be interesting."

"Pharaoh," Mahaad stopped floating in the air as the Dark Magician to stand and bow properly.

"Mahaad..."

Mahaad smiled. "Perhaps it is time for Shelleene and me to return to the Magic Box. Until our next visit, Yugi." Mahaad bowed toward him.

"Mahaad..." Yugi echoed Yami's unspoken complaint. Mahaad grinned.

"Farewell, Yugi, Pharaoh, my friends. Come Shelleene, say good-bye. It is time for us to go."

She darted over to brush lightly against Yugi's face again. "Bye-bye, Yugi Master."

She turned to Yami and hesitated. She looked up at Mahaad's face and cooed a question. Mahaad's smile deepened and he nodded.

"Go ahead."

Shelleene brushed lightly, tentatively, against Yami's face. "Bye-bye, Pharaoh Master!" she whispered before her courage left her and she dashed over to Mahaad's side. Yami's mouth gaped open as Mahaad ushered Shelleene out and closed the door to the corridor behind them.

Yugi giggled. "That was funny!"

Yami merely smiled, and gestured. Yugi obligingly scooted over to make room on his bed for Yami to sit. He'd long since given up puzzling how his mind appeared to be a place, with solid things like memory-toys and the sanctuary that was his bed and just accepted it.

Accepted...

He'd had to accept so much lately, that his cards has personality and wills of their own, souls; that Mahaad led them and was concerned for their happiness. That Mahaad's concern had spread to him, and had always been there for Yami. So much had happened! His feelings had gone from bleakest despair to giddy hope all because of his cards. There were times, he didn't want to admit it, where he wondered at his sanity. "The Heart of the Cards" -- they were just cards weren't they?! How could it be that they had names and wills of their own? All too often it seemed as if Yugi's life were bound by magic he didn't understand.

"You've gotten quiet. It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" Yami asked gently.

Yugi paused. He might have doubts that the cards were real, in the quiet moments when they weren't in front of him, but those doubts melted when Yami was around. There was no way that Yami could be a mere figment of his imagination. He was too -- real to be just an imagining.

Then that meant that everything that happened, did happen. He'd dueled with Arcana again, nearly losing his Dark Magician Girl to Arcana's misguided revenge. He'd formally met, lost and retrieved Akai. They'd lost Mahaad in the process of that rescue, and then when they'd finally found him to rescue him...

He, Yugi, had been blasted completely out of Yami's and his own mind by the mysterious Guardian Dark Magician whose task was to guard some dark secret buried in Yami's mind.

Yugi drew his knees up and shivered. Yami smiled gently at him, opened his arms, and pulled Yugi into his embrace.

"My destiny has not been easy on you, has it? I have no idea why it has to be so hard. But, Yugi, I am glad you are here to help me with it. I could not ask for a better partner to be here, at my side."

"Sometimes I feel -- so small, and weak, and..."

"But you aren't! You aren't, Yugi. You are strong in those things where I am weak. And you help me to be strong too. I don't know where my destiny, our destiny, is going to take us, but Yugi," Yami let Yugi go, grasped his shoulders and locked his sincere gaze on Yugi's eyes, "I am happy that I'm sharing it with you."

Yugi thought of all the fun things that had happened. Visiting the Magic Box and meeting his cards, meeting them as if they were people, dueling alongside of them as a Dark Magician -- All of this would not have happened to a person who had a normal destiny.

Of course, that meant there were dangers too. For the longest time it seemed as if everyone he met wanted his Puzzle. He'd been forced into duels in the frightening Shadow Realm more times than he cared to count.

But through it all, Yami had been there. Yami. More than anything, Yugi wanted to help Yami recover his lost memories of his ancient past, and determine what his destiny was to be. It wasn't at all what he thought his own destiny was to be; instead, it was dangerous, exciting, scary, freaky and wondrous all at the same time.

Yugi had wished on the Millennium Puzzle, when he first saw its golden pieces scattered before him, for friends strong, brave and true. He thought that his friendships with Joey, Tristan and Tea were the proof of the granting of that wish. It seemed as if his wish on the Puzzle was still being granted.

He'd discovered new friends. Mahaad, Mana, Akai, Shelleene, Everon, Celedor and the other card monsters -- they were his friends too.

And Yami. Yami was something of a twin that destiny gave him. Yami was strong where Yugi admitted he was weak. Sometimes it seemed as if they were two halves of a single whole. But Yami never made him feel weak or inferior. In fact, Yami listened to him, encouraged him and in a way, empowered him.

Though Yami had been the Pharaoh thousands of years before, and had the weight of a magical destiny to bear, Yami had always --

Respected him. From the very first, Yami had respected him. That was something Yugi couldn't say about Joey or Tristan. Sometimes he wondered about what people thought of him. What did they see? A short kid who was too earnest and nice? A target to be picked on and teased? For so long that was how he was treated. Honestly, he thought that was to be his "destiny".

But ever since solving the Puzzle, that destiny had changed. He was respected as a great duelist. How much of it was Yami and how much was -- him? Ultimately, did it really matter? Yugi knew that Yami respected him. In the end, that was all that mattered.

"Yami, I am happy to be sharing this destiny with you too," Yugi admitted.

Yami turned and smiled at him. Yami's smiles were rare, and most often -- clouded somehow as if he was afraid to admit he was happy, but this smile was as warm and brilliant as the sun. Yami stood and glanced around.

"Is everything in order in your room?" Yami asked.

Yugi stood too, looking about at the brightness of his mind room. His gaze sought out those "objects" most precious to him, finding each one in its place. He stooped to straighten the Dark Magician plushie and set it to its task of guarding the bed.

"Yup."

"Well, then, shall we leave such weighty matters as destinies and respect behind and see about getting something to eat?"

A rumbling sounded through Yugi's mind room at the thought of food.

"Yup! Somehow, I think we are starving!"

Yami smiled.

"So, partner, what say we grab a snack and see what Joey and the others have been up to?"

-end-

---------------------  
Author's Notes-

::falls over dead (tired):: Finally!

Thank you, everyone, for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you also for everyone who left reviews. I don't ever hold stories "hostage" for more reviews (deplorable behavior, that), but I do like receiving them (even when they are pointing out something I need to fix) and they do encourage me.

As a thank you for your patience there is one more chapter for you. It's an omake (in Japanese the word has a meaning of "something extra" almost like a gift) that takes us back to when Yugi go blasted by the Guardian Dark Magician. Enjoy!

Next chapter teaser - Omake Chapter - Chapter Seventeen - The Heart of the Cards

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


	17. Omake Chapter The Heart of the Cards

**Omake Chapter - Chapter Seventeen - The Heart of the Cards**

Bright purple light, erupting in a sudden flash, made Yugi gasp. He felt a shock run through him, all the way down to the core of his being and realized he'd been hurt in some serious, perhaps mortal, way.

"_There's no pain,_" he wondered deep in his mind. The severity of the shock made him think there should have been wracking pain. His mind couldn't help but pry into the of the heart of the moment that had just passed, wondering if the pain he thought there should be lurked there.

That bright light stopped him. The memory of the moment was wrapped in a brilliant purple light that wouldn't allow him to come near, even to explore what had happened to add it to his memories or even fully to understand what had happened.

Though it was forbidding him from gaining the knowledge he wanted, Yugi didn't feel that the purple light meant him any harm. In fact, it was as if it was protecting him somehow.

He crashed into an unyielding wall, which jarred him from puzzling at the memories denied him by the purple light. A second jarring, much softer than the first, stopped his fall. Yugi opened his eyes.

A skull leered down at him. His eyes widened, while his soul gibbered in fright for a moment, staring up into the visage of death, before he realized he recognized this particular skull.

"Uhm...?" he began weakly. "You are -- the Summoned Skull?" Yugi's voice was just above a whisper.

The Summoned Skull nodded. "My name is Everon," he supplied, dropping Yugi's legs and assisting him to stand. Yugi then realized that he had somehow crashed into Everon who had the presence of mind to catch him and prevent him from falling to the ground. Though the crash into Everon's chest had seemed rather forceful, Yugi didn't feel even the tiniest bit of soreness from the impact. He glanced down at his hands wondering how he'd escaped so lightly.

Again, his eyes widened in surprise. Purple gauntlets filled his vision.

"What?!"

"Coo!" His Kuriboh darted from behind the Summoned Skull and stroked her soft fur against his cheek, all the while vocalizing various soft, exclaiming noises.

"I agree," Everon replied. Yugi blinked that the Kuriboh and the Summoned Skull were talking with each other.

"You seem to have become the Dark Magician. The purple one, that is. It makes Shelleene wonder what has happened to Mahaad?"

Mahaad. Somehow, the thought of the name made Yugi's soul fill with sadness. Oh yeah.

"Uhm... Mahaad, he's..."

Some of the memories hidden in his mind pierced the veil of purple light. He'd entered the tomb within Yami's mind in the company of Akai and Mana, searching for first Yami, then Mahaad. In the corridor he'd visited once before with Shadi, they had found a Dark Magician, the one guarding the last secret door in Yami's mind. That Dark Magician had stepped forward from his stone tablet and Yugi thought he recognized the soul of Mahaad in his eyes. He'd started to run toward him, so happy to have found him when...

That was the purple light in his soul! Mahaad had attacked him with Dark Magic!

"Why?!" Yugi cried out. "Why would he -- attack me?!"

"Mahaad attacked you?!" Everon seemed stunned. Yugi nodded as a tear slipped free to trickle down his cheek. Immediately it was as if he were being smothered in greenish-brown fur.

"No cry!" Shelleene demanded. "Yugi Master mustn't cry!"

"But, but -- Mahaad attacked me. He doesn't -- respect me. He must -- hate me." Each broken thought served to deepen his despair.

"Wrong!" Shelleene insisted flatly.

Everon nodded. "There's no way that's the truth, Yugi. He does respect you and he certainly doesn't hate you. There must be some reason he attacked you. What happened?"

Yugi recounted finding Mahaad in the Dark Magician of the stone tablet and how he'd suddenly been attacked.

Shelleene cooed excitedly at Everon for several moments. Yugi was frustrated at not being able to understand his Kuriboh as easily as his Summoned Skull evidently did. Everon turned toward him again.

"We think that perhaps you surprised him. It almost sounds as if his attack was instinctive rather than planned. Even so," Everon cupped his chin, "it is very strange that you would wind up here, inside the Magic Box. It must not have been a normal Dark Magic attack, or you would have appeared in the Graveyard."

Yugi shuddered at that. No, he would not have ended up in the Graveyard. He wasn't a card. He would have died.

The purple light still residing in his mind flared at that, seemingly responding to his thought.

_"What are you?"_ Yugi thought at the purple light.

_"A guardian."_

_"Guarding what?"_

_"Shielding you from a pain undeserved."_

_"What?"_

The light fell silent again.

"So, how did I wind up here?" Yugi asked. "And how did I become a Dark Magician?" he glanced down at his purple, armored hands again.

Everon traded a look with Shelleene and shrugged. "We'll find out the answers when Mahaad decides we should know. It must make some sort of sense to him."

"Then maybe -- Mahaad had to attack me," Yugi wondered aloud. "But he made certain that attack wouldn't -- hurt me."

_"We had to attack you. But it was not Mahaad who changed the attack. Though he would have wanted to, he doesn't yet have that power. It was me."_

_"You? Who are you?"_

For an answer, the purple light within Yugi's mind coalesced into a Dark Magician. He looked up, and recognized the aspect of the Dark Magician who had attacked him. He couldn't help but shudder.

_"You have met me once before, little one. In the company of the one who bears the Key."_

_"Shadi." _Yugi supplied. _"So you are the Dark Magician who nearly attacked us before. But, you listened when I spoke with you before and would have let us pass. Why, why did you attack me today?"_

_"I was confused before. I should not have offered to let you pass. Today, I thought you were trying again. The Pharaoh explained that you were not; instead you were trying to save Mahaad."_

Yugi nodded. _"But if you were trying to stop me, how did I wind up here? And like this?"_

_"Even Mahaad does not understand all the turnings of destiny. You are important to the Pharaoh's destiny. I must guard the secrets of the Pharaoh's mind against all intrusions, even his, but I cannot hurt him. Killing you would hurt him more than any other attack I can think of. So, when I realized that you were the one destined to help him, since it was too late to recall my attack, I altered it. To send you here. The power of Dark Magic, that I had originally launched to kill you, instead enabled you to transform yourself once you arrived here."_

_"I transformed myself?"_

The Dark Magician nodded.

_"It is not without precedent that you would see yourself as the Dark Magician, Yugi."_

Yugi blushed. How silly he must seem to this powerful aspect of the Dark Magician!

_"What now?"_

_"Now, you allow your cards to take care of you. I am certain they will be able to undo what has happened. I only hope that your experiences here atone for what I have done." _

Yugi couldn't help but feel the oblique apology was difficult for the Guardian Dark Magician to utter.

_"Mahaad will take care of this situation and bring everything back to the way it should be. If I am not mistaken, he will understand the opportunity presented to him and he will make certain that what happens to you here, in his Magic Box, will serve as my apology to you."_

_"You are -- you are --"_

The Guardian Dark Magician smiled and dropped a hand to Yugi's head. Some thing, some power, thrilled through his mind and the tension of trying to track down the Guardian Dark Magician's identity suddenly eased.

_"We will meet again, when the time is right, Yugi Motou. And then, the understanding you are faltering toward now will be returned to you. The Pharaoh is in your good hands. And, for now, you are in your Cards' good hands. Farewell, Yugi."_

The purple light faded from Yugi's mind. In some way, that magician still seemed very familiar to Yugi, as if he'd met him before and known him for a very long time. Far longer than from the time of the brief meeting he'd shared with Shadi.

"Yugi Master? Yugi?!" Shelleene bobbed before his eyes, worry scrunching her eyes closed.

"Hmm? Yes?"

"You were lost deep in thought. You aren't worried, are you?" Everon asked. "We're not about to let anything happen to you!"

"No, no, that's not it," Yugi reassured.

"Good! Come on, Yugi Master, meet all Shelleene's friends!" Shelleene grabbed the forward-facing point of his helmet and pulled. Yugi had no option but to follow where the surprisingly strong Kuriboh led.

"Okay, okay! I'll follow you!" Yugi laughed out loud.

"Okay!" Shelleene smiled, released her hold on his helmet and began to bob away, pausing every few feet to make certain Yugi was following her.

"It's best to play along with her when she's excited about something," Everon offered. "I'm certain Mahaad, Mana and Akai will be able to find us once they return."

Yugi remembered what Guardian Dark Magician had said about this being his apology and thought he'd better make the most of this chance to both meet his cards, and enjoy being a Dark Magician. He grinned and followed his tour guides, Shelleene, his Kuriboh and Everon, his Summoned Skull, with a light heart.

-end omake-

---------------------  
Author's Notes-

Thank you for reading! ::smile - huggles Kuriboh:: I hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde (at) stargarde (dot) com


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